Static Mayhem by Edward Aubry (Review)

Genre: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: July 25, 2017
Format: ePub
Pages: 303
Add to Goodreads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Book

A year after the world was thrown into magical chaos, Harrison Cody takes part in an expedition to learn the cause. What his team finds is an unfathomable enemy, who intends to finish what was started and wipe out every remaining survivor. Harrison is the key to stopping it, but doing so will come with an unbelievable sacrifice, one he might not be willing to make.

My Rating

4.50

My Interview

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

After reading “Prelude to Mayhem”, I couldn’t wait to delve back into New Chicago, to see where Dorothy, Mitchell, Harrison and especially Glimmer are in their adventure of finding each other, and settling into their new roles.

However, this story had less of Dorothy’s point of view and it focused more on Harrison and Glimmer, and this new adventure that they take with the New Chicago team.

Harrison, while kind-hearted and well-meaning, he is a little bit clueless. Although he tends to be really aware of how people perceive him and Glimmer, which is adorable watching them defend their relationship.
I did notice that Harrison had some oblivious insensitivities going on. But many of the characters, especially Apryl, had no problem pointing out he was being a giant jerk to people.

I love Glimmer. Seriously. Because she is so full of snark, insane intelligence and she gives her whole heart to everything and everyone.

But ugh, this book gave me so many feels! Bring some tissues, you might need them.

Where to Buy

Amazon CAN | Amazon US | B&N

About the Author

Edward Aubry is a graduate of Wesleyan University, with a degree in music composition. Improbably, this preceded a career as a teacher of high school mathematics and creative writing.

Over the last few years, he has gradually transitioned from being a teacher who writes novels on the side to a novelist who teaches to support his family. He is also a poet, his sole published work in that form being the sixteen stanza “The History of Mathematics.”

He now lives in rural Pennsylvania with his wife and three spectacular daughters, where he fills his non-teaching hours spinning tales of time-travel, wise-cracking pixies, and an assortment of other impossible things.

Connect with Edward

Curiosity Quills Press | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

 

Convergence by J.R. Rain and Matthew S. Cox

 Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: July 31, 2017
Format: ePub
Pages: 258
Add to Goodreads

About the Book

Solstice Winters has spent most of her life halfway between normal society and the world of her magical parents. However, when getting caught between two worlds becomes more than metaphorical, being able to summon light or open locks might not be enough.

Neither her love life nor her professional life are going anywhere in a hurry. Her boyfriend is successful and handsome, but she constantly has to compete with his job for affection. At thirty-two, she works as a photojournalist for The Spirtualist, a small paper dedicated to magic and the supernatural―that most people regard as a tabloid. Desperate for that ‘one break,’ she’ll do almost anything to get that big story and get into a ‘real’ media outlet.

Years of always not quite fitting in begin to make sense after an error at a particle physics laboratory alters the dimensional alignment of the world, strengthening magic and revealing an unexpected truth to Solstice.

She’s not even human.

In the wake of an event her boss at the paper is calling The Convergence, magical beings are appearing all over the Earth. Solstice doesn’t hesitate, racing to be the first to capture indisputable evidence of mythical beasts. Alas, being a magical creature herself, she soon winds up in the cross-hairs of not only a three-letter government agency, but an ancient sect of mages with dark intentions.

My Rating

Review

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Solstice Winters walks between two worlds. The normal world and the magical world her parents brought her up in. Little does she know, she is much closer to that magical world than she ever bargained for. Especially when her cat, Mr. Moody, is as snarky as his name.

J.R. Rain and Matthew S. Cox make a really awesome writing team. The writing was seamless. You honestly wouldn’t know there were two different authors. Clearly, they were on the same track.
Solstice is a great lead character as well. She had a well thought out personality and she had some good lines involving her sense of humour. Especially when the cat started to talk and demand food, at regular intervals, haha. The other supporting characters were well balanced and well written as well.
The only problem I found that this story lacks is world building. While it had great conversational aspects to the story, but a little more focus on the surroundings would have been top notch for the story.

However, I do look forward to more by these two authors and more of Mr. Moody and Solstice.

Where to Buy

Amazon CAN | Amazon US | B&N | Alibris | IndieBound

About the Authors

J.R. Rain is the author of thirty-three mystery, supernatural, and romance novels and five short-story collections.

He’s sold over one million books online. Moon Dance, his supernatural mystery, has been translated into four languages, with audio and film productions pending.

The literary heir to Robert Parker, his novels feature challenging characters, complicated relationships, and page-turning modernist prose. The gritty realism in his mystery novels comes courtesy of years working as a private eye.

A So-Cal native, Rain relocated to an enigmatic and shadowy island outside Seattle.

Connect with J.R.

Curiosity Quills Press | Website | Twitter | Amazon | Facebook

Originally from South Amboy NJ, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Since 1996, he has developed the “Divergent Fates” world, in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, The Awakened Series, and the Daughter of Mars series take place.

More recently, he has forayed into young-adult and middle grade novels.

Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour, and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.

He is also fond of cats.

Connect with Matthew

Website | Curiosity Quills Press | Twitter 

The Eldritch Heart Blog Tour

 
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: August 1, 2017
Pages: 320
Add to GoodReads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Book

Princess Oona Talomir enjoys the little things that come with her station: a handmaiden, her lavish bedchamber, and scores of fancy dresses―the duty to win a decades’ long war, not so much.

Oh, did I mention assassins?

Seers foretold the conflict would end by her hand. From the moment she drew her first breath, the neighboring kingdom has been trying to kill her so she could not grow powerful enough to destroy them. The king, fearing for his daughter’s life, has kept her confined to the castle grounds for most of her sixteen years. With the tide of war turning against them, the burden of her crown becomes too much to bear, yet one thing lifts her spirits amid the gloom.

Her servant girl, Kitlyn.

Alas, in a kingdom obsessed with the god of purity, she is terrified to confess her forbidden love. When her father makes a demand she cannot abide―marry a prince to forge a military alliance―Oona panics. He is handsome and honorable, but he’s not Kitlyn. Unable to admit why she cannot obey, Oona does the only thing she can think of, and runs away.

Alone and unprepared in the wilderness, she prays the gods will let Kitlyn find her—before the assassins do.

Excerpt

Oona weaved through the garden paths for a little while before a patch of moss unseated from the stonework under her foot and took her to the ground. Kitlyn pounced, and they rolled together for a few tumbles before coming to rest with Oona on her back. Kitlyn grabbed handful after handful of mulch and dropped it on Oona’s head.

She squealed, raising her arms in a poor attempt to defend herself. Soon, they collapsed and laughed, out of breath.

“That cloud looks like a frog.” Oona pointed up.

“All I see are leaves.”

“There’s a little hole in the canopy. Scoot closer.”

Kitlyn crawled over, almost ear-to-ear, to peer at the gap. “Oh. You’re right!”

Oona’s mouth dried out. She tilted her head to the left, touching cheeks with Kitlyn. On contact, the girl grew tense and awkward.

Distant trickling water caught Oona’s attention. “Let’s go to the pond.”

“All right.” Kitlyn rolled to her feet and pulled her upright. “We’re almost there anyway.”

Oona tugged her along to the northwest end of the castle grounds. The great keep wall, some twenty-five feet tall, framed a manmade pond in the corner beneath the ivy-covered stone, with a curved bank that gave it the overall shape of a fan. A tiny rowboat sat in the same spot so long that it too had become enshrouded with ivy. Oona questioned the point of a boat in a pond so small it would take less than thirty seconds to row from the bank to the innermost corner, but maybe they needed it to repair the wall. Or something.

“It’s so peaceful here,” whispered Kitlyn.

Oona pulled her over to the bank and tested the water with a toe. Cold, but not intolerable. With her free hand, she gathered her gown up a bit to keep it dry and stepped in, ankle-deep. Dense mud oozed between her toes, and she laughed at how alive it made her feel.

Kitlyn squeaked as she followed. “It’s freezing.”

“A little.” Oona tugged her to the right, toward a mossy stone bench a short distance into the water. “You’re right… it is peaceful.”

Oona took a seat and tucked her dress about beneath her legs so she didn’t have to hold it to keep it dry. She moved her feet back and forth in the water for a little while, and tried to pick a polished stone from the muck with her big toe, but couldn’t get it dislodged.

The afternoon sun had glided far enough to the west beyond the wall to shadow the pond. Honeysuckle and the scent of water, earth, and moss swirled in a breeze that hissed among the treetops. Only the occasional chirp of a bird or rapid scampering of a squirrel broke the calm. Tiny fish nipped at her feet, making her grin and squirm.

“Peaceful,” repeated Kitlyn wistfully.

“Yes.” Oona looked to her left, realizing she hadn’t let go of Kitlyn’s hand.

She didn’t let go either. As their eyes met, a hundred different moments replayed in her memory: happier times frolicking in the garden or playing pranks on the adults, less happy times―more as of late―worrying about responsibility and politics. Sad times, like when Kitlyn had been paddled twice and wouldn’t even talk to her for a few days. I thought she hated me after that.

Kitlyn bit her lip.

Oona squeezed her hand. Something felt different. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears. She didn’t want to let go. Didn’t want the world outside of the corner pond to exist anymore. They’d been best friends their whole lives despite the vast difference in station. Best friends… those words didn’t quite feel adequate to the task of what bubbled up inside her. Dizziness made the garden spin a little, and she looked away.

I’m imagining this. Kit’s my friend. I couldn’t tell her what I’m feeling… what if she’s disgusted? The mere thought of Kitlyn making a face of horror stabbed her like an icicle in the heart. She traced her thumb side to side over the back of Kitlyn’s hand. The black-haired girl didn’t pull away, but she stared into the water while swishing her feet back and forth. She sat straighter, tense, worried.

A lump welled thick in Oona’s throat. Everything she wanted to say jumbled up like a bunch of soldiers trying to cram themselves through a narrow doorway all at once, and jamming to a halt. Her metaphoric army dropped their swords and collapsed in an ungainly heap.

“Peaceful,” she croaked.

Where to Buy

Amazon

 

About the Author

Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.

Hobbies and Interests:

Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.

He is also fond of cats.

Connect with Matthew

Website | GoodReads | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway

Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)
Enter Here: $25 Amazon gift card

 

Follow the Blog Tour Here

Organic by Jadah McCoy

 
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: June 13, 2017
Pages: 157
Format: ePub
Add to GoodReads

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Book

Jadah McCoy’s ORGANIC pitched as Bladerunner meets Pitch Black, in which 18-year-old Syl has barely survived the genetic splicing that plagued her human body. After discovering the androids’ plot to wipe out human and Cull alike, Syl must return to Elite to warn the other survivors. However, with the realization that her group of survivors isn’t the only one, also comes the realization that some humans are just as bad as androids. Bastion and Syl grow closer, however, their relationship suffers under the weight of her past ghosts and a growing threat that endangers human and android alike.

My Rating

4.75 Stars

My Review

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

There is no doubt that I have added Jadah McCoy to my list of favourite authors. I am so excited to see where she takes Syl and Bastion from here.

Second books get such a bad rap, especially as they are the middle filler. So there can be this awkward lull between the three books.
While Organic was a little more subdued than Artificial was, it didn’t take away from the story itself.

Syl is a lot more emotional in this. Artificial, she was duty bound to her people and stayed pretty level headed but in Organic she was a lot more all over the place. But then again, who wouldn’t after dying and having your living mind uploaded into an artificial mind. She retains so much of her humanity and seems to forget she isn’t human anymore. Which was plainly obvious when she and Bastion found Blalock’s gang.
Also, as androids do not dream, the fact that she dreams when she is to shut down shows how much of her humanity remains.

I enjoyed watching Bastion open up and gain his Glitch stripes. Before he was cautious and didn’t really reveal much about himself, but with Syl, he bloomed and even tried cracking a few jokes. It’s clear how important Syl is to him.

It was great to see more of the world that Ms. McCoy has built. Kepler seems to resemble Earth in many ways but way, way more endless desert. Much of the book is Syl and Bastion travelling through these different biomes, so it was interesting to see the planet and the world around them.

Holy cliffhanger batman! Seriously. It was getting good and then BAM! Ended. I was never so disappointed in a cliffhanger in my life. Then the book hangover. Oh, the woes!

Either way, it entices me to keep reading and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Where to Buy

Amazon CAN | Amazon US | Chapters | Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Jadah currently lives in Nashville, TN and works as a legal coordinator. When not babysitting attorneys, she can be found juicing her brain for creative ideas or fantasizing about her next trip out of the country (or about Tom Hiddleston as Loki – it’s always a toss up when she fantasizes.)

She grew up in rural Arkansas, yet can still write good and sometimes even wears shoes! She did date her first cousin for a while but they decided against marriage for the sake of the gene pool.

Her true loves are elephants, cursing, and sangria – in that order. If you find an elephant that curses like a sailor whilst drinking sangria, you’re dangerously close to becoming her next romantic victim – er, partner.

She cut her writing teeth on badly written, hormone-driven fanfiction (be glad that’s out of her system), and her one true dream is to have wildly erotic fanfiction with dubious grammar written about her own novels. Please make her dreams come true.

Connect with Jadah

Curiosity Quills Press | Facebook | Website | Twitter | GoodReads

 

Blood Rush by Laura Diamond

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: May 9, 2017
Pages: 255
Format: ePub
Add to GoodReads

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Book

After escaping the long reach of the immortal Vie, seventeen-year-old Justin and human ex-slave Cara must face new challenges in the wilds outside the city wall. Dotted with pockets of hostile Anemie communities, the wilds are just as dangerous as the city. So when Cara is injured, Justin must seek help from the very group he wants to avoid.

On top of that, Alex—who promised to let Justin back in the city when the time was right to rescue his sister, Sammie—gets killed in the final Anemie raid, all televised and hosted by TV personality Vincent Marks. Footage from the explosion plays in Justin’s mind while he tries to balance keeping Cara safe, befriending sharpshooter Sparrow, and winning over the witch healer, Nauro, all while trying to figure out the Anemie leader, Lawton’s, secrets.

Turns out, there’s much more to the Anemies than Justin ever knew. They’ve found a way to trade their drug-like blood to addicted Vie in return for supplies. But the tenuous relationship shatters when Justin’s secret gets out—his blood can age the immortal Vie. It’s the weapon the Anemies’ leader, Lawton, has been waiting for, and he intends to use every last drop.

Lawton forces Justin to join him—or Cara will pay the price. Justin accepts Lawton’s terms, but the move brings Anemies and Vie closer to war.

My Rating

3.85

The Review

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

In Blood Rush, Justin and Cara escape the city with the help of Alex before a mass raid and extermination of Anemie in the city.
Alex encourages them to seek out the freed slave settlement called Prospect, but Justin being Justin, he veers away and refuses to accept his role in the slow downfall of the Vie. This causes him, then, to be captured by Sparrow and her Anemie camp when Cara falls through a trap the camp had set.
This camp is run by an Anemie named Lawton who has grandiose ideas of taking down the Vie. Especially when Lawton finally see’s the video of what Justin’s blood does to the Vie, he is all for taking them down whether Justin wants to or not.

I do feel that the first book was a bit better, however Justin still gets on my nerves. I’m also remarkably surprised, still, that he is only 15! He seems so much more mature than 15. His suspiciousness of Alex certainly ages him.
Although after learning of why Alex is so interested in Sammie and especially in Justin, Justin still managed to get on my nerves. No matter what, trust (even minuscule) goes a long way over consistent paranoia.

Although it was sad, you do find out what happens to Sammie finally. It was one of the best things for the first and second books, to have Sammie being Justin’s main reason for continuing with Alex. There was such an emphasis on the importance of his sister, for both Justin and Alex.

I just hope that Justin, now, begins to trust Alex a bit more in the next book. Although the ending was abrupt and you’re unsure what is going to happen to them all, I do look forward to seeing where Ms. Diamond takes the group.

Where to Buy

Amazon CAN | Amazon US

About the Author

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist currently specializing in emergency psychiatry. She is also an author of all things young adult—both contemporary and paranormal. An avid fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and anything magical, she thrives on quirk, her lucid dreams, and coffee. When she’s not working or writing, she can be found sniffing books and drinking a latte at the bookstore or at home pondering renovations on her 225 year old fixer upper, all while obeying her feline overlords, of course.

Connect with Laura

Website | Twitter | GoodReads | Facebook

Artificial by Jadah McCoy

 
Genre: Dystopia, Science Fiction, New Adult
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: April 4, 2016
Pages: 226
Format: ePub
Add to GoodReads

 

 

 

 

 

 

She struggles to feel human.

In 2256, the only remnants of civilization on Earth’s first colonized planet, Kepler, are the plant-covered buildings and the nocturnal, genetically spliced bug-people nesting within them: the Cull. During the day, Syl leaves her home in the sewers beneath Elite City to scavenge for food, but at night the Cull come looking for a meal of their own. Syl thought gene splicing died with the Android War a century ago. She thought the bugs could be exterminated, Elite city rebuilt, and the population replenished. She’s wrong.

Whoever engineered the Cull isn’t done playing God. Syl is abducted and tortured in horrific experiments which result in her own DNA being spliced, slowly turning her into one of the bugs. Now she must find a cure and stop the person responsible before every remaining man, woman, and child on Kepler is transformed into the abomination they fear.

He struggles not to.

For Bastion, being an android in the sex industry isn’t so bad. Clubbing beneath the streets of New Elite by day and seducing the rich by night isn’t an altogether undesirable occupation. But every day a new android cadaver appears in the slum gutters, and each caved in metal skull and heap of mangled wires whittles away at him.

Glitches—androids with empathy—are being murdered, their models discontinued and strung up as a warning. Show emotion, you die. Good thing Bastion can keep a secret, or he would be the next body lining the street.

He can almost live with hiding his emotions. That is until a girl shows up in the slums—a human girl, who claims she was an experiment. And in New Elite, being a human is even worse than being a Glitch. Now Bastion must help the girl escape before he becomes victim to his too-human emotions, one way or another.

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes, I read books. Sometimes I absolutely absorb books. This was one of those “absorb books” times. I couldn’t have stopped reading it even if I wanted to. The sleeplessness was worth it totally!

The one thing I enjoyed was the Glitches. Glitches are androids who develop human feelings. I was struck by the likeness of the “Glitches” from many pop culture human-like androids or robots. But the most human of all was how the Glitches were treated by their own kind. Human emotion comes with human-like decisions. By choosing to kill the Glitches and string their metal corpses up in a display of the defiance of the murdered androids, the emotionless androids were showing how human they really were.

I absolutely enjoyed the world building. It showed how the androids and the mutant bug-people called The Cull rule Kepler and that humans are the lowest of the low. Kepler is Earth’s first colonized planet. The androids seem to collect humans for enslavement and as pets. While the Cull are far more nefarious. If humans are caught outside after dark, then you’re at risk of running into these mutated humans and being dinner instead or liquid. Think Alien with the acid spit.

The connection between Syl and Bastion added the right amount of tension. Especially as Bastion began to realize how important the human Syl was becoming to him.

The villain reminded me of the flamboyant Caesar Flickerman from The Hunger Games, only robotic and far more evil.

I definitely recommend this to any other dystopian, science fiction nerds like myself! You’ll enjoy the ride.

Amazon CAN | Amazon US

 Jadah currently lives in Nashville, TN and works as a legal coordinator. When not babysitting attorneys, she can be found juicing her brain for creative ideas or fantasizing about her next trip out of the country (or about Tom Hiddleston as Loki – it’s always a toss up when she fantasizes.)

She grew up in rural Arkansas, yet can still write good and sometimes even wears shoes! She did date her first cousin for a while but they decided against marriage for the sake of the gene pool.

Her true loves are elephants, cursing, and sangria – in that order. If you find an elephant that curses like a sailor whilst drinking sangria, you’re dangerously close to becoming her next romantic victim – er, partner.

She cut her writing teeth on badly written, hormone-driven fanfiction (be glad that’s out of her system), and her one true dream is to have wildly erotic fanfiction with dubious grammar written about her own novels. Please make her dreams come true.

Connect with Jadah

Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Website

 

 

Dawn of the Vie by Laura Diamond

 
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: October 3, 2016
Format: ePub
Pages: 276
Add to Good Reads

Since their Arrival, immortal alien Vie rule the planet. Enslaved humans are their servants, entertainment, and food. Anemies—humans with various types of anemia—are exterminated. Their nutritionally deficient blood is useless to the Vie. Or so it’s thought…

Alex, an Elite Vie, is part scientist, part Raid Specialist, and part drug addict. He knows Anemie blood is valuable—as a drug. Rather than blindly carrying out his boss’s kill order, he spares a few Anemies, not only for study, but also for his own private stock.

The more Anemie blood Alex drinks, the more he slips into delusion, and the more his double life threatens to crumble. But quitting Anemie blood is not an option. There’s no rehab for his condition.

When Alex tastes Justin’s blood, his hallucinations bleed into reality…

Anemie Justin knows he’s living past his expiration date. It becomes a guarantee when he’s bitten by Alex during a raid and infected with the Vie’s toxin. Alex adds insult to injury by promising Justin a second chance—a cure if he agrees to be a lab rat. And a mule…of his own blood.

The only leverage Justin has is a stake and a serious lack of self-preservation.

GAME ON.

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

What if vampiric aliens came to Earth, enslaved the healthy human’s and cast out unhealthy humans to the slums? Well if that was to happen, then the future would be this book.

The Vie control everything, including free will and right down to feeding what the author calls “Anemies.”
Healthy humans are the slaves to the Vie. They are their food source and they take care of their homes. The Anemies are humans who have varying degrees of anemia. Clearly the Vie prefer the hemoglobin in the blood of the humans, so the lack of isn’t as appetizing to them.

In comes Justin, an Anemie, and his little sister Sammie who is also an Anemie. They’re hiding in a building to sleep when the Vie conduct a raid and we’re introduce to Alex, an Elite Vie with a taste for Anemie blood. It is a drug to their kind. It becomes obvious why the Vie then raid the Anemie slums, to replenish their drug habits.

Alex takes Justin’s little sister Sammie, after he bites her and challenges Justin to find him. To which Justin happily does and thus finds out that Alex has more of a hand in the care for Anemie and that he has motives for Justin.

What I enjoyed the most about this book was that it was told in a masculine voice. Although Justin is supposed to be 15, I found that his voice was that of someone much older. I would say 18 or 19.
I actually found Justin to be a little grating on the nerves with his constant paranoia. While I understand that the Anemie’s fear the Vie and Justin has a reason to hate Alex, it was just grating how paranoid he was.

Now Alex is the fascinating character. For someone who has everything they could wish for, he develops a guilty conscience. However, what ever his motives are, they remain pretty much unknown. Especially involving Justin’s sister, Sammie.
Sammie remains something that Alex can hold over Justin, so it does make Alex a little iffy.

Sara, Alex’s human slave, became a love interest for Justin. She seemed to be a background character more, at least until the end of the novel. She was mostly just the pretty slave girl. Her personality didn’t really develop until later on. A lot of that was probably because the Vie have the ability to trance their slaves, so that took away their free will to be themselves.

My only wish is that there had been more focus on the scenery. The world building, involving the Vie and the Anemies had been great, but the scenery didn’t really match it. Of course they were building this biodome over the city to block out UV lights, but the city itself wasn’t really described. It would have been nice to see the city itself as well.

However, it will be interesting to see where Justin, Sara and Alex go from here.

Amazon CAN | Amazon US | Chapters | Barnes & Noble | Alibris | Indie Bound

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist currently specializing in emergency psychiatry. She is also an author of all things young adult—both contemporary and paranormal. An avid fan of sci-fi, fantasy, and anything magical, she thrives on quirk, her lucid dreams, and coffee. When she’s not working or writing, she can be found sniffing books and drinking a latte at the bookstore or at home pondering renovations on her 225 year old fixer upper, all while obeying her feline overlords, of course.

Connect with Laura

Website | Good Reads | Twitter | Facebook

Dragon Redeemer by Amy Bearce

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: May 23, 2017
Format: ePub
Pages: 220
Add to Good Reads

Four years have passed since a fairy swarm released the voice of prophecy in Nell Brennan. In that painful moment, a skilled warrior became a reluctant leader and defender of Aluvia’s magic. Now a new enemy threatens their still-fragile lands, one Nell feels powerless to stop even with help from the voice within her.

A mysterious dark alchemist from the Ice-Locked Lands is rising to power on the strength of his sword arm and an ice-breathing dragon obedient to his command. He promises unlimited magic to his followers and death to those who defy him. If he takes over the ports, his corrupt elixirs will disrupt the delicate balance of peace between Aluvia’s people and all magical creatures.

The voice of prophecy sends Nell and her friends to their enemy’s treacherous domain to find a sword of legend. Only the sword’s magic can prevent a return to a world of dying fairies and caged merfolk. But Nell’s up against the toughest foe she’s ever faced. In order to defeat him, she must master the unimaginable power of the sword―and the unwanted magic inside herself.

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say, out of all the three books of the world of Aluvia, this is possibly my most favourite.
At first, I wasn’t too keen on Nell, when I read about her in Fairy Keeper. But she really grew up in this book. She embodies everything people look for in a strong heroine. She is strength, determination and while she is a tom-boy by our Earthly standards, her connection with Corbin was lovely to watch.

I love books that go on grand adventures. Instead of the two sister’s this round, it is Nell who has to follow the prophetic voice inside her head to the Ice-Locked Lands in order to save Aluvia from someone trying to steal the land’s magic. This someone is eerily familiar to Nell as well. A reminder of her past where she delved into organized crime to provide for her family.

This is a great trilogy for your kids to grow up with. Especially those who are in middle grade starting with Fairy Keeper. As Sierra, Phoebe and Nell all grow up and learn their paths in life, find their life partners. It is a great timeline for that and each girl is an inspiration.

Amazon CAN | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound

Amy Bearce writes fantasy stories for tweens and teens. Her debut, FAIRY KEEPER, is an upper-middle grade fantasy and is the first book in the World of Aluvia series. MER-CHARMER (World of Aluvia, Book Two) released May 9, 2016. Book Three, Dragon Redeemer, is scheduled for release May 23, 2017. She is a former reading teacher who now has her Masters in Library Science. As an Army kid, she moved eight times before she was eighteen, so she feels especially fortunate to be married to her high school sweetheart. Together they’re raising two daughters and are currently living in Germany, though they’ll be heading home to Texas this summer.

Connect with Amy

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest | 

Google Plus 

 

 

Myths of Mish by Katie Hamstead

 
Genre: New Adult, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: March 28, 2017
Format: ePub
Pages: 281
Add to Good Reads

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.75 Stars

Hansel and Gretel Herrscher survived the witch in the woods, but the experience has made Hansel paranoid for the past ten years. He sees dark magic at every turn. When Gretel has a marriage arranged to a much older man, and Hansel discovers he’s about to be sent halfway across the galaxy, he knows something sinister is afoot.

Wilhelmine Nordon has plenty of experience with Hansel’s quirkier side. So when she catches him and Gretel running away in the middle of the night, she follows to keep them from getting killed. The siblings have never left the capital of Mish on their own, so they need a babysitter. Except when she’s discovered, Hansel gives her his usual cold shoulder, and Gretel secretly begs her to take them back.

The problem is, Hansel’s paranoia turns out to be well founded, and they’re all being hunted.

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Thank you, Katie Hamstead, for having a deep love for Firefly and continuing to use it as inspiration in her stories. I love it and it completely fills that Space Cowboy and Steampunk love that I have.

Hansel and Gretel, we’re all familiar with that story. House made of gingerbread and a witch captures them to eat them. Well, the story happened. Now Hansel and Gretel are all grown up.
Hansel’s father and stepmother plan to marry Gretel off to a much older man, and the father of Gretel’s friend Mina. Hansel tries to stop it and takes off with his sister to save her. Ever since he returned from the witches house, he has been highly suspicious of his parents, especially his step mother. If something traumatic like that happened to you or I, we would be just as suspicious too.

However, Hansel is one of the most disagreeable characters ever. He is neurotic to the point of insanity. He is also really, really rude to Mina. Some of that is because he had forgotten she had grown up and was her own person, not some fourteen year old girl with silly fantasies in her mind. But you know, the bigger the jerk, the harder they fall… right?
It would have been nice to see Gretel in a different light. She kind of took a back burner to Hansel. In that, she seemed meek and naive. At least until much later in the book when she began to truly shine.
Mina, she was the best character. She was everything people look for in a character. She was bad ass, head of her own naval ship, in league with the pirates and could handle herself easily. She also managed to keep Hansel at an arm’s length without revealing her feelings.

I truly enjoyed the mixing of fairy tales and myths in this. Mermaid’s and siren’s was perfect to add into the tale. Especially with siren’s. It was a perfect Brother’s Grimm tale with that. Also, nothing like evil step parents!

I totally look forward to seeing where Ms. Hamstead takes her stories. I hope to see more myths and fairy tales retold. I do enjoy a good retelling!

Amazon CAN | Amazon US 

 

Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s early years of day dreaming in the “bush,” and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughters, and their dogs.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing.
When her debut novel, Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh, climbed into bestselling status, she believed she was onto something, and now has a slew of novels available, and is published through Curiosity Quills Press, Soul Mate Publishing, and REUTS Publishing.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports, and be a good wife and mother. She now works as an office lady at an elementary school to help support her family. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.

Princess of Tyrone by Katie Hamstead

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Publication Date: March 31, 2016
Format: ePub
Pages: 263 pages
Add to Good Reads

Apolline is happy hunting magical creatures on her pirate infested outer-perimeter planet. She is a fantastic shot, and doesn’t flinch at the blood and guts of her kills. Never once did she consider she could be the missing Princess of Tyrone.

All her life, she has heard the story of the Princess, cursed to sleep for eternity, unless her betrothed, the Prince of Oran, gave her true love’s kiss. Although Apolline knows she is betrothed, she thinks her fairy guardians arranged it out of ignorance of human ways. The thought she could be a princess is inconceivable.

Then Allard appears. Handsome, charming—but he’s not hers to have. He’s betrothed, too. Her guardians warn her against her new found friendship, but she and Allard meet in secret anyway. Despite her rough exterior, he sees beyond her gun-slinging bravado, and their love blossoms.

But the deadline for the sleeping curse is approaching. If Apolline falls in love with the wrong person, she could end up sleeping forever.

A quirky, adventurous retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a less than princess-ly princess!

I received this eBook from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This is a retelling of the tale of Sleeping Beauty. Now, throw away your ideas of how Sleeping Beauty was in the Disney movie and the way the Brother’s Grimm told Sleeping Beauty (thank god, if you know the tale). The heroin in this tale, Apolline, is kick ass. She has absolutely no idea who she is, other than she is an orphan and is being raised by fairy Aunts. Oh and that she is betrothed.
At a young age, to get her out of one of the Aunt’s hair, she is taught to hunt a deer like creature that can only be seen by those who have magic or are around magic enough. She sells the meat and hide of these animals to help out her Aunt’s, financially.
She is a gun toting woman who stands up for herself and keeps herself busy. Hell, she even beat up a pirate when he tried to take off with one of her kills.

At least until Allard, a mysterious soldier, makes his appearance. Then we see Apolline wrestle with herself about her feelings for Allard and her promise to her betrothed. We also learn who Allard is really and how he struggles to remain true to his promise as a Prince and his betrothed.

For me, this had such wonderful tones of Firefly and Doctor Who. Captain Mal would be proud to know Apolline.

I definitely recommend this! I enjoyed the fairies, especially their part in the story!

Amazon US | Amazon CAN | Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Alibris

Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s early years of day dreaming in the “bush,” and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughters, and their dogs.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing.
When her debut novel, Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh, climbed into bestselling status, she believed she was onto something, and now has a slew of novels available, and is published through Curiosity Quills Press, Soul Mate Publishing, and REUTS Publishing.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports, and be a good wife and mother. She now works as an office lady at an elementary school to help support her family. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.

Connect with Katie

Blogspot | Twitter | Curiosity Quills Press