I get sent a lot of books to review. I can't review them all so I thought I'd start a video series about my process for selecting which books I'll review. I hope it helps indie authors to understand the process I reader might go through to select their next read. Maybe it will help writers improve the beginnings of their books. Enjoy the video!
If you would like to submit your book for one of my vide reviews you can send it to darkwhimsicalart@gmail.com
]]>I really enjoy Jenna's YouTube channel so I decided to buy her first book. It started out very strong and reminded me of The Hunger Games. Twenty men are picked to be in a death tournament to win the right to marry the savior which would make them the ruler of the country they live in. You can see how this could be very Hunger Games like.
The main character is Tobias a commoner who wants to be an artist but works as a laborer. He doesn't want anything to do with the tournament but ends up joining to get money to help his injured sister. The other characters are fleshed out pretty well except the ones that die early. One particular death I was surprised about. It happened so soon, too soon. I didn't have time to get to know him so his death wasn't very impactful for me. I might have killed him later on in the story in a more meaningful way.
The plot of this book was OK. I don't read romance and this is a fantasy romance so maybe that is my problem. I thought the plot was a bit simple and predictable. Once the relationship started to form I pretty much guessed what would happen. I hear romance is very formulaic so that may be why.
The twist of the novel is held off for what feels like forever, all the way until the end of the book. The twist turns out to be the main thing of this book and I feel like it should have been a subplot. This book also does not conclude so you will have to read more to get an ending, something I'm not a fan of.
It sounds like I don't like the book but I did read all of it. It was good enough to finish, but I feel it was too long for how it concluded.
There are other issues I had but I don't want to discuss them because thy would spoil things for people who do like the book. One of the issues being Cosima. Why was the father going along with the arrangement? That is all I will say.
If you love romance do give the book a try. It is written very well. A lot of work went into it. If you like the plot level of Games of Thrones books or Dune like I do this might not satisfy you. There is a second book. Maybe that one clears everything up.
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Mystical Circles by SC Skillman is a romantic suspense novel about Juliet, a freelance radio journalist, who fears for her sister Zoe, who has joined a strange group called The Wheel of Love and has fallen head over heels for the leader. Juliet arrives on the farm where the group resides to record a documentary, but also to rescue her sister from the strange group’s clutches. While there, Juliet becomes drawn into the secrecy of the group and goes on a mission to uncover the truth.
The blurb on Amazon and the free sample I read on my kindle led me to believe that this book would be about a woman trying to save her sister from a strange cult compound like Waco Texas, but ends up being sucked in and/or falling in love with someone in the group. She then discovers something sinister about the group and needs to escape. Since I’ve never had any contact with a group like that, I thought it would be an interesting read to watch how a normal person is sucked into a cult. That’s not what this book is about so don’t make the same mistake as me.
The Wheel of Love group is not a cult; it’s more like a random assortment of people thrown together, all of them with problems they are trying to hide. It’s hardly a retreat center. The participants only take part in two activities during the entire novel, a weird form of meditation, and dream yoga. The characters spend most of their time eating and drinking wine and perusing and arguing with each other.
There is no serious danger in this story for the protagonist to overcome, only the secrets The Wheel of Love members won’t reveal. Mystical Circles is a novel of troubled people working out their deep seeded issues and finding love. If that’s the type of story you enjoy, then you’ve come to the right novel.
Unfortunately, it’s not my type of story. It realistically portrays everyday life problems like mental illness and entrepreneurs with no business sense. I read to escape reality. I kept hoping the person who didn’t eat at dinner would end up being a vampire or Craig the leader had some sort of twist to him because he kept shifting his appearance during dinner. No such luck.
About forty percent into the novel, I lost interest. The book is slow-moving and not a lot of excitement. I had no emotional involvement with the characters. I tried to pin down why. I think it’s because the reader is constantly being told by the author how to feel about situations instead of letting the reader experience the action that would generate the feelings in the reader.
The kindle formatting needs to be redone at the beginning of the novel, the stuff before chapter one. I don’t think it’s displaying the way the author intends. Some page breaks might fix the problem. Some writing issues could be addressed, such as using “was” when it’s not needed. The beats between character dialog are dry at times and become repetitive, but other than that no major editing problems.
This book isn’t for me, but there are definitely readers out there for it. If you enjoy delving into people’s personal problems, knowing their dark secrets, then you will enjoy this book.
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The last keeper’s Daughter by Rebecca Trogner is a vampire, paranormal mystery with a dash of romance. It is the story of Lily Ayres, a privileged girl living at Waverly Estates located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Paris, Virginia. She is a sickly mute young woman who has no idea her father has given her to the vampire king, Krieger. Walter Ayres, her father, is the vampire king’s keeper, a historian of sorts for the vampire. When he turns up dead, the lives of many of the characters in the novel are turned upside down, as they are introduced to the Other Realm; a world they didn’t know existed.
I first became interested in this story because of its setting. I live near Paris, Virginia and drive through there regularly. I was eager to see how much of the descriptions sounded familiar. The author never mentioned anything specific that I’m familiar with so that was a little disappointing, but certainly not deal breaking. I pick random places in my stories all the time. The area is full of fortunate families, mostly vineyards. I did find the descriptions in this novel a bit vague at times, but again not a deal breaker. The descriptions just weren’t unique.
The novel has a large cast of characters. It’s written in third person and switches perspectives, which is nice after the slew of first-person books out. The beginning of the book and the description of Lily at the beginning intrigued me and kept me reading. The reader wonders why she is so sickly and strange. Hunter, the detective, also interested me as he surveyed the mess in the church. Nevertheless, as the novel continued on, I started to lose interest. For some reason, I could not connect emotionally with the story or any of the characters. The plot is stimulating, but that is not enough for me. I just didn’t care about any of the characters. As I got closer to the ending, the characterization became melodramatic. Some readers will enjoy the melodrama, but it’s not for me.
Trogner has built a huge world. Part of what keeps you reading is discovering new things about the world she has created. The world is also more distinctive than other vampire, paranormal worlds I’ve come across, refreshingly different.
I did read to the end, and the end is, well, you’ll have to read it to find out. I can say I thought it was strange, and it does leave it open for more books. It does conclude unlike many other book series out there so that’s a big plus in my book. You will have to read on to reach a final conclusion. My only issue, I thought Hunter, the detective, would have more to do with the ending and the rest of the novel. His part in the story kind of dies out. Having Krieger’s brother explain the mystery at the end instead of it all being uncovered by the detective seemed too old school an ending for me.
If you love vampires and want to get immersed in something different with a complicated world and mystery to solve, then check this book out.
Paramount (Thirty Minutes to Heartbreak, Book 1) by Nadia Scrieva is a paranormal romance novel about Pax Burnson, a descendant of devas. Pax has all sorts of special powers such as levitation, burning things with her hands, and super fighting strength. The book opens with Pax upset in her car because her boyfriend, Thorn Kalgren, cheated on her. Later, her childhood friend, Amara, is also heart broken when her lover, Pax’s uncle, breaks up with Amara. The girls team up and decide to use their deva powers to get revenge on their disloyal mates in a very unusual way.
Warning, this book is not for young readers. It has many swearwords and erotic scenes detailing sexual acts. This book is for adults only. If I had known this, I may not have read it. I don’t enjoy erotica.
The book is properly formatted and well written. It needs some minor editing of wordy sentences and sentences with too many words or missing words. The beginning was a little confusing, but keep reading it will come together after a couple of pages and from there makes perfect sense.
I liked the cover. It was one of the reasons I decided to read the book. The description also sounded interesting, but I think the description on Amazon was a bit misleading. This book is more about the relationships of the two girls and their heartbreak over the cheating, etc. than it is about the deva powers and the mother’s death. The first fifty percent of the book is the couples chasing each other around dealing with their relationship problems in an immature way, especially sense the main character Pax is supposed to be a doctor. It takes a certain maturity to make it through medical school, which I felt this character lacked. I also had a bit of a problem with the mens’ one-eighty change in attitude. First, they are horn-dogs out to get laid not caring for the women, and then their attitude just suddenly changes, and they are both depressed and sorrowful about breaking up with the girls. I saw no reason for the sudden change in attitude.
What the two girls do to get revenge on their boyfriends is an interesting idea. I just wish that no one was related to each other. The incest side of the mix did not help while reading the erotic parts. I could only think yuck. I’m not sure why any of the characters had to be related to each other. Perhaps it’s important in later books.
I enjoyed the deva and paranormal parts of the book far more than the romance parts and wish the book was more about those subjects instead of the relationships.
The book does not have a complete arch. It is more an intro to the characters’ problems so you will need to read on for a conclusion.
Overall, the novel has potential if the focus was less on the relationships, and the incest problem was fixed by making the characters not related to each other. The writer has definite potential. I really enjoyed many scenes.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
Sleight of Hand (Bite Back 1) by Mark Henwick is a contemporary urban fantasy detective story. Amber is a military veteran who’s been discharged because she is bitten by a vampire while on a mission. Her bite and possible transformation into a vampire are kept top secret. For a short while, she becomes a police officer until she attacks and kills three rogue vampires to save the life of a young girl. Now she is a private detective struggling to pay her bills and attract business.
In this novel, Amber is hired by Jennifer Kingslund, a rich businesswoman whose friend has disappeared. Jennifer believes someone is trying to sabotage her company, and she wants Amber to solve the mystery. The search leads Amber to werewolves and vampires and a centuries old war that could threaten everyone.
I enjoyed this book and found it to be well-written and edited. Occasionally, some passages get a bit wordy and could be written shorter, but it’s not a large problem. The majority of readers won’t notice the overuse of the word “was” that could have been edited out. It’s a pet peeve of mine so it tends to stick out.
Character development for Amber is excellent. She comes across believable, and a reader will care what happens to her. She is also a strong kick-butt kind of character, which is a nice relief from all the whiny female leads in many paranormal books that are copying Twilight. One thing I thought was odd, about fifty percent into the novel the reader learns that Amber had a twin sister who was stillborn. Up until this point in the novel, the twin is never mentioned, almost like halfway into the novel the author got a new idea and decided to throw it in. The rest of the novel has Amber occasionally talking to her dead sister, which doesn’t serve any purpose in the novel. I’m not sure why the twin was added in half way and not worked into earlier parts of the novel. Perhaps the twin is important in the next book. In this one, it’s just an oddity thrown in half way.
The story has an excellent balance between action and slower getting to know the character scenes. The mid-section did slow a bit for me waiting for the ball to happen, but I pushed through and the story does pick up again. I found the parts of the book where Amber is discovering things about the supernatural world more interesting than the investigation scenes, but that’s because I’m not much of a detective story reader.
I don’t read detective stories much so I may not have enough reading experience to say this, but I found the way Amber ran her business realistic, calling in the police instead of going in herself, calling for help, backing off when other characters in books would have gone in alone and saved the day. I liked this aspect and found it to be very different from other detective stories I’ve come across.
Another thing I’m happy about, even though this book is a part of a series, it has its own ending. It doesn’t stop in the middle leaving everything unresolved and me scratching my head wondering if the author knows how to conclude a book. It does leave enough questions about Amber’s personal life to keep you wanting more.
I highly recommend this book. The slight editing issues, the strange twin thing, and a slow part in the middle are the only problems keeping this book from getting five stars. If you love detective stories with vampires and werewolves, and a main character that is tough, then you will enjoy Sleight of Hand.
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4 out of 5 Black Cats
I enjoyed this story. It's a simple tale of finding true love and is a short read. You can read it in a few hours on a weekend or on vacation. It's well written and edited and formatted professionally for kindle. It follows the pattern of a classic fairy tale so if that's something you enjoy pick it up.
However, do not pick it up for your twelve year old. This book is for adults. Near the end it does contain a very graphic sex scene. As sweet an innocent as the rest of the story was, I wasn't expecting it. Nor was it needed in my opinion, which is why I gave the story 4 stars instead of 5. I think a more innocent and romantic scene would have fit the story better. For those who love hot sex you're in for a treat.
If you enjoy stories about true love and fairies with a happily ever after and are 18 or older, then I recommend reading Three Wishes.
3 out of 5 Black Cats
No Story to Tell by K.J. Steele is a very depressing book. The main characters life starts out from the very beginning as a disappointment when she survives being born and her twin brother, who her father preferred, dies. The rest of Victoria's life is a string of horrible events; being raped as a teen, falling sick at her big dance audition and having to drop out, marrying a drunken, chauvinistic creep. The only bright spot to ever occur in Victoria's life is the day her car breaks down and she meets Elliot, an artistic, handsome man who recognizes the dancer in Victoria right away.
The novel starts to take a positive turn when Elliot convinces Victoria to open a dance studio, but quickly the terrible host of characters populating the small town pull Victoria back into her oppressive prison. The whole time you're reading this book your hoping something will happen to cause Victoria to finally confront her horrible husband, confront the horrible townspeople she's stuck with, and leave her husband and run off with Elliott. This doesn't happen and it makes the novel such a downer its hard to keep reading. The only reason I kept reading was I expected any minute Victoria would grow some balls and tell everyone in town where they could go.
None of the characters in this novel are likable except Elliot, not even the main character Victoria. They are all well written, developed, and have rich histories, but there is nothing redeeming about anyone in the town. If I lived in this place, I would have moved in the blink of an eye. Victoria is so broken and pathetic you want to scream at her. But that's the point of this novel, to live in the shoes of someone so beaten they let everyone walk all over them. You can't understand how a person can be so spineless until you've experienced their life and that's what this novel does for the reader.
The writing quality of this novel is excellent. It was free of typos, errors, and cliche descriptions and phrases. It's worth reading for that reason alone.
I recommend reading this novel, especially if you are a writer, for the excellent prose and character development, but be prepared to be depressed after reading it. The level of despicableness and despair is high and never eases.
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3 out of 5 Black Cats
Stained by Ella James is a YA novel about a girl named Julia who has lived her life in the foster system. She knows nothing about her real parents, and at the start of the story, her foster parents' house is on fire and the foster parents and children inside have burned in the fire. Julia sees a demon above the house that quickly disappears. When I first read this part, it seemed like Julia didn't care very much that the family taking care of her died. I found that a bit cold. Maybe she was in shock, maybe she wasn't close to them. At this time in the story we don't know her relationship with the foster family or how long she has lived with them.
Julia runs away because she doesn't want to return to the foster system. She doesn't express any fear about seeing the demon, which I thought was curious, made me think maybe she was used to supernatural occurrences. She stays the night in a warehouse where an attractive male fighting the same demon she saw before falls through the roof. The male is close to death and at this point we learn Julia can see the auras of other people and can heal people as she heals the mysterious attractive male. I wondered at this point why the demon stopped attacking and left. If the guy was on the verge of death, why would the demon stop? The demon could have taken them both out at this point. I assumed there was a reason the demon stopped the attack, but that reason is never answered in this first book. I'll assume it gets answered in the second or third book, otherwise this is a big plot hole to me.
The two reluctantly team up using Julia as bait to try and catch the demon. The relationship development during this time is entertaining, but nothing new. Maybe if an ugly guy fell through the roof it would have added a more interesting angle to the story, something for the main character to overcome. The two travel back and forth across the United States chasing the demon and learn some interesting information about the birthmark Julia has on her body. The novel ends at an exciting part, but so far, nothing in the story is resolved so you will have to read the next book and possibly the third book to reach any conclusions.
I liked the book. It was well written, although there were enough typos in the piece that they stood out, mostly the use of the wrong word in sentences, a problem a correction program wouldn't catch. The writer will need a human to go through and find those mistakes. The novel is a light read with a simple plot so far. If you are looking for something entertaining that won't require a lot of investment to follow, then this is a great choice. This first book in the series is your typical paranormal romance, no surprises yet, so if that's what you like, you'll like Stained.
I initially chose this book to read next because one of the reviews said this book had the best boyfriend character they'd ever read. Cayne has no memory part of the way through the book, then gets it back and turns cold toward Julia for a while. He deemed the typical YA male character to me. Perhaps in books two and three we see what makes him better, but in this first book, he is a standard male love interest for a YA novel.
If you like paranormal romance then give Stained a try. You will find everything in it that you would find in other YA paranormal romance, which is not a bad thin
3 out of 5 Black Cats
Muse by Susie M Hanley is an urban fantasy set in modern times in a world similar to ours, except in this world, muses are real, and they have superhero like people called Guardians that protect them. The book is in first person point of view from the main character, Shelby’s POV. A description of the book from amazon is below.
Shelby has worked hard to make a life for herself. Her parents died when she was young, and her husband left her with two kids. When her ex-husband comes back to town, he has more to say than just “I’m sorry”: he's a Guardian, and his new assignment is her. She is a Muse now, one coming into her own no matter how hard she fights it, and trouble stalks her wherever she goes. Her ex-husband can't keep up and, with their history, she doesn't want him to. To complicate matters, there’s another Guardian around when she needs help, and they are falling for each other. He has a dark past that’s trying to reclaim him, and Shelby is in the way. But she has to accept her Museness and figure out fast what being a Muse really means if she is to keep herself and her children alive.
The book is well written and well formatted. There are, however, many sentences with missing words. I would find one about every other page or so for around 37 editing issues. This book could use another editing pass.
I did enjoy the book and knew I’d read the whole book just from its beginning pages, but it does have issues. Muses and Guardians exist in this world and everyone knows about them. They aren’t a secret. So why does the main character know nothing about them. It seems to me in a world like this Muses and their Guardians would be like celebrities and news about them and movies and media about them would be everywhere. Most likely, they would teach about them in school, too, hence the encyclopedia at the beginning of each chapter. Even if Shelby hates Guardians and wants nothing to do with them, she would still have picked up some information about them from TV and other media outlets. Her being clueless doesn’t make since unless they are secretive and nothing in the novel suggested they were secretive.
I like that Shelby the main character is a strong single mom, does what she wants, and doesn’t let the ex-husband stand in her way. Young Adult books need more strong female characters like this one. One problem I had with her decisions dealt with Tiffany, the way Shelby rolled over and did what Tiffany commanded seemed out of character. Yes, Tiffany had items that supposedly belonged to Shelby’s children, but there was no proof those items did. I think Shelby should’ve at least questioned it first before suddenly changing over. Tiffany could have purchased duplicates at a store.
Near the end, we start to get a lot of action. Shelby rescues herself from something horrible and finds out her son is in danger. You would think they’d be on the road ASAP to save him. It takes forever for the characters to get through their personal stuff and organize to go save the boy. Putting the boy’s mortal danger on the back burner like that seemed again out of character for a strong mother.
I like the main character and secondary characters and their personalities. I think they are well developed and have baggage just like real people would. I did groan a bit when the girl with two guys plot made an appearance. It seems like every YA novel coming out has the same love triangle and I’m ready for something new. Please writers, I beg you, stop the girl torn between two guys theme and all its variations.
So, overall, what did I think of this book? I did like it and would recommend trying it. It has an interesting idea and world that has lots of potential. Will I read the next book? I’m not sure. The author as a proven ability, she can write. I’m worried that the next books will be full of the two guys playing tug of war over Shelby. I’ve read that story before, in Twilight. I enjoyed the twilight series, but I don’t want to keep reading it repeatedly in other forms. At this time, I’m not sure if I want to continue with the second book. I am interested in other books the author may put out if the description promises something new.
4 out of 5 Black Cats
Luck and Death At The Edge Of The World by Nas Hedron is a first person sci-fi mystery about Gat Burroughs, a security specialist for hire who is employed by Max Prince, a paranoid, washed up superstar, to improve his security and find out who tried to kill him. The attack seems impossible with the high tech security system Max owns, and every clue Gat uncovers only leads to more questions. With people trying to murder Gat and no evidence pointing to a suspect, Gat must make choices that put his life in danger. Will he find his killer or will he end up on the slab with the other victims.
I’d like to start with my first impression of the book before reading anything other than the description. I liked the plug for the book; it made the book sound interesting. I’m not really into mystery books, but it was set in the future in an interesting sci-fi world, so I thought that might keep me interested. The cover didn’t appeal to me. After reading the book, I can see how it relates to the story, but I still don’t like it. It doesn’t give me a professional impression and I worried that might reflect in the writing. There is a lot of advertising at the beginning of the book. I would have preferred it at the end. I don’t care about this authors work yet. I haven’t read anything by him yet. I just wanted to get to the story. By the end of the book, I would be interested in seeing all that because the author told a good story. I would take the time then to go through it, not at the beginning. I skipped through it to start reading. The author sent me a PDF so I downloaded the free sample to see how the kindle formatting was handled. I wasn’t bad. My only gripe is that it’s formatted for non-fiction not fiction. The paragraphs are not indented and there are spaces between paragraphs, nonfiction style.
I wasn’t sure if I’d like this story, not being into mystery. I read the prolog and thought, well that was different, and became a bit more enthusiastic. A few chapters in and I was satisfied. The main character was interesting and the writing style clean and easy to follow. The descriptions and development of the world were well written and thought out. A lot of work went into the world. Once or twice, I thought the world descriptions went on a bit too long, but never enough to make me want to stop reading or start skipping parts. I worried a bit when the first chapter started with a dream since this is cliche, but the Tijuana dreams figure into the characters development prominently so I can accept this beginning.
The other characters are super described in refreshing ways compared to other works I’ve been reading. This was a nice treat for me, as a writer. I found the part about the spider and the gang who cares for her especially interesting, and wished it had been a bigger part of the book. I hope future books in this world use the spider more. I really liked the idea behind the luck stealing as well, and hope to see more of that in future books.
The mystery plot the book is based around isn’t complicated or full of twists like I’d expect in a mystery, but it does work and the world Gat lives in keeps you interested.
My only complaint with the story is a part where Gat is interrogating a guy who works at the shell factory (human shell, you’ll have to read the book to find out what that means). We fall into the point of view of the sales guy going into his past and how he was bullied. This is a first person book; Gat couldn’t possibly know that information about a guy he has never met. The author broke point of view for a paragraph or two. Shame, shame. The rest of the book was written so well with only maybe on copy editing issue per chapter, I can overlook one mess up.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and am glad I got to read it. I definitely recommend trying it.
4 out of 5 Black Cats
The Other Covenant Vow Of The Seven: Book One by Caroline Crosby is a novel about Elizabeth, a woman who has suppressed her precognitive abilities her entire life to hide from the black magic covenant until Richard Bennett, her grandfather’s enemy, calls her out of the blue and asks her to protect his wife, Althea, because he knows he is about to die. Because of a promise Elizabeth made, she must take the assignment despite the rift between their families. Richard gives her a manuscript detailing historical truths about a black covenant he was involved with and how this covenant influenced history and changed the world for its benefit, the reason someone wants to murder him. Elizabeth has known about the black magic cult her whole life and has hid her powers from them, but never knew the extent of their influence until reading Richard’s words. After Richard’s death, Elizabeth vows to use her enforcer training to find the murderer and bring about a justice regular law enforcement could never achieve.
The above sounds like an interesting book and the first chapter, when I read it, sounded promising so I decided to continue with the book and review it. After the first chapter the book fell short for me. The very next chapter is a section of the manuscript mentioned above and it’s written in a telling style instead of in scenes and goes on forever and is like reading a history text book from high school. It feels like the author wanted to show off all the research they did on history instead of write a book that entertains. The whole book is too dry and matter of fact for me, not much character emotion or personality to draw the reader in, at least not for me. Some readers may enjoy all the historical research and information in this book, if that’s your thing. There is just too much back story that is told to the reader instead of it being worked into the story. Lots and lots of back story.
I can’t comment on the mobi or epub formatting because I was given a PDF file to read, however, I did come across some typos through the piece, but not enough to be annoyed and stop reading. I would suggest the author take another look through it and clean it up, but overall for a self-published work, the author did an exceptional job of copyediting. There was some head hopping in this novel, not enough for me to stop reading, but enough for me to mention it. Any time you change POV you should put a break to warn the reader something is about to change otherwise your reader my get confused. It’s best to stay in the same POV throughout a chapter, but if you do need to change, you should leave a break or put asterisks.
Which brings us into characters. I thought all the characters had very rich histories to build personalities on, but the characters ended up not having much personality. Nothing really differentiated the characters except gender, name, and their descriptions. No quirks or mannerisms, nothing to make them interesting or stand out. No personal internal struggles from their past, nothing that I picked up on. Without any real emotional turmoil or struggle, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters and if I can’t connect with the characters, it’s hard for me to stay interested in the book. I just don’t care what happens to them.
I also feel the novel could be shortened. The manuscript parts would be better shorter or rewritten as scenes leaving only the relevant info to the plot in and not all the info. The other sections of the novel could be shortened by getting rid of redundant information and cleaning out unneeded words to shorten sentences and word count to help the novel move faster. I’d like to see the magic part of the novel explained better as well, especially in the beginning where it is just thrown in and the reader is like, what? Where did that come from and how does it work, what does that mean?
I had a problem with the ending as well. The novel ends in the middle of the climax and there is no resolution. That would be OK If it was ended on a cliff hanger, but it’s not. The story just stops. It would be like ending The Matrix at the part where Neo blows up Agent Smith and not having the parts after where he wakes up, gets the girl, talks on the phone, and flies away like Superman resolving everything in the movie. I know this is the first book in this series, but there should have been some resolution ending the book and hinting what the next book would be about.
This book doesn’t have a lot of action in it so if you’re into action then you won’t like this book. If you are into history and twisting it into conspiracies and chatting and discovering those conspiracies, then you may love this book and should check it out.
4 out of 5 Black Cats
The Selkie Spell by Sophie Moss is a fantasy romance novel about Tara Moore, a woman who fakes her death to escape her abusive husband and finds herself at a secluded island in Ireland called Seal Island. At first, the locals don’t trust her. It's obvious she’s keeping secrets, and the locals have dealt with other newcomers keeping secrets before. The locals tell Tara about a 200-year-old curse, and Tara laughs it off when it is suggested that she might be the descendant of the selkie. But when a ghostly woman appears to her with a warning, Tara realizes it was more than chance that brought her to this island. Desperate to escape a dark and dangerous past, Tara struggles against a passionate attraction to handsome islander Dominic O’Sullivan. But the enchantment of the island soon overpowers her, and she falls helpless under its spell. Caught between magic and reality, Tara must find a way to wield both when a dangerous stranger from her past arrives, threatening to destroy the lives of everyone on the island.
I’m going to start with mechanics first. The story was well-written and edited. There were few copyediting errors, and I didn’t encounter excessive back-story or telling. The Selkie Spell is written professionally in that respect. The kindle formatting is perfect. Everyone self-publishing fiction should look through this book to see how it should be done. Keep up the great work.
This book does shift point of view every couple of paragraphs. This is normal in romance novels so romance readers may not be bothered by it, but I think the fantasy description of this novel may attract some readers who don’t read romance regularly, like myself, and may find the shifting perspective confusing or annoying. I thought the changing viewpoint was handled well and didn’t leave me confused, but those picking this book up who don’t read straight romance like Daniel Steele regularly, be warned.
The beginning has a great hook and captures the reader’s interest right away. After that, the writing style is still excellent, but the subject of the story started to disappoint after I got about 40% in. I wanted the story to be more about the selkie and the curse than the abusive relationship. The abusive relationship parts are handled well, but the description of the book on Amazon makes it sound like the selkie story is the dominant element of this novel, and it’s not. It turned into another abusive husband story like the movie, Enough, or, Sleeping with the Enemy, and I was promised a modern-day fairy tale by the description. The book is good, but I was left wanting more fairy tale.
About twenty-five or so percent in, we get our first romantic encounter between Tara and Dominic. I felt this scene was forced, and at this stage of the novel, didn’t make sense yet. Why would a man who wouldn’t let his daughter near Tara suddenly be attracted to her and want to make out with her? There should have been more time for Dom to get to know Tara and trust her more before they were thrust together in a romantic interlude. It just felt rushed to me as if the author decided they needed to get some romance in the book ASAP or the romance readers would be upset. I would have been perfectly happy without the romance parts at the beginning, but I’m also not a romance reader. I was more attracted to the selkie in the story than the romance.
Overall, I recommend this book. It wasn’t what I was hoping for, an urban fantasy, but I still liked it. I hope that this review will help the right people find this book, people who will enjoy it for the right reasons.
This book may not be in print anymore.
Piercing The Fold (Book 1) By Venessa Kimball is the first book in a young adult science fiction series about a girl named Jesca, who starts developing strange powers and having disturbing dreams. She can run fast; she can hear the thoughts of other people, and she has no idea why until her professor at college tells her a story about a scientist named Sebastian and how he used Einstein’s theories to open wormholes to other worlds. Jesca learns the Earth is not as it seems and alien forces are working to accomplish their own ends. Jesca must train to become a guardian and help protect the Earth.
The scientific parts are handled well and sound plausible, and I enjoyed the connections to the past. Did I go look the science up to check if it’s factual? No because I felt it was written well enough, even if the science isn’t correct. I can suspend my belief and enjoy the story.
Piercing the fold has an interesting plot, which kept me reading despite some mechanical issues.
The kindle formatting is handled professionally and the cover beautiful, great job on these details. The book starts out in first person from Jesca’s point of view. It stays that way about sixty-five percent of the book, then without warning, it changes to third person to characters the reader has not met yet. The sudden change jars you out of the story. It’s almost like the reader has accidentally picked up a different book by accident. Some sort of warning of the change would help, such as having parts. The first sixty-five percent could be part one with a large page saying part one. Then when it’s time to change to third person with new characters, the reader would get another page saying part two. This would help the reader to expect a change.
We stay with the new characters in third person for a while except one chapter written in first person from Xander’s point of view. At first, I thought this chapter was Jesca. It took a while of reading to figure out it was Xander. Then Jesca comes back in the picture. I expected the chapters in her point of view to be in first person because that was what was established in the beginning chapters, and other character’s point of view in third person, but that’s not what the reader gets.
The reader experiences random switching from first person to third person between different characters within the same chapter at times. The switching is confusing and unnecessary. I think it’s done so the reader can get the view point of both Jesca and Xander at the same time, but the switching confuses the reader. I found myself stopping and going back to double check whose view point I was in. I think these sections of the novel would work better staying in one person’s point of view for the entire chapter and staying in first person for Jesca and third person for everyone else. Romance readers may be used to head hopping, but science fiction readers won’t like it.
The idea behind the story is excellent and developed well, but I didn’t like the back story being dumped on me over several chapters in a row about twenty-five percent of the way in. It might be better to work the back story in as the info is needed instead of all at once, or find a way to shorten it to one or two chapters. At the beginning, the reader is presented with a back-story dump, too, that I think could be cut or shortened significantly as well, again we can learn the beginning information as the story unfolds.
The book could use another pass to get rid of redundancy. Whole paragraphs have sentences all starting with ‘I’ and could use some variety by changing the structure of sentences. Furthermore, there are sections that basically say the same thing that could be cut. For example, “I am physically incapable of answering him, literally. I can’t get myself to push the words out of my mouth.” Both sentences are right next to each other and say the same thing. One of them could be cut.
I see a love triangle forming between Jesca, Xander, and Nate near the end. I hope the author concentrates the next books on Jesca and Xander’s relationship and drops the Nate story line somehow. The conflict of the two being from alien worlds that are at war with each other is a more interesting avenue to explore. The two hot guys want the same girl triangle approach is being overdone. I can always tell when a writer has read Twilight because they try to relive the Twilight love triangle in their books.
In closing, although I do think Piercing the Fold could use more editing, I did enjoy reading it and was surprised at the science angle of the book. Hard Core Science readers may not like this book, but readers who like paranormal romance will enjoy this science fiction romance. Despite some structure problems, I think this book is a good read.
Actually I give it 31/2 Dark Passage was entertaining and a nice break from the paranormal, romance, love triangle books I’ve received. If you’ve had your fill of the books reminiscent of Twilight you may want to pick this book up, if you enjoy horror and gore like I do. The kindle formatting of the mobi file the author gave me was a little wonky with beginning paragraphs in a larger font than the rest of the chapter and occasional larger fonts at random. I downloaded the free sample on my kindle fire and saw none of these problems so it may just be the mobi file I received. I did find about 30 or so editing issues. I know the author is currently hard at work getting those fixed so new purchasers will get a cleaner copy. The issues were few enough that it didn’t affect my reading experience in any major way.
The writing style is easy to read and follow and for the most part is done well. The one thing I’d like to see changed, take out the overuse of “had”. The author writes almost everything in past perfect instead of past simple. It creates the effect of separating the reader from the action, more like a friend telling you a story instead of the reader being apart of the story. For example, “He had found them in the maintenance lunch room and tried each key until he had found the one that worked.” Take out the “hads” and it reads much clearer and brings the reader closer to the action. another example,”If seeing those bodies had convinced him of anything, it was that he needed a weapon.” The words “had” and “that” are not needed. There is a lot could “coulding” too, I could see, I could taste, I could smell, when I saw, I tasted, I smelled brings the reader in closer to the action. Great books to read on these problems are
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I liked the idea behind this book, pulling things from your dreams into reality, even though it’s not a new idea. I hoped to see a new spin on it. This concept isn’t really the main focus of this story, more like a catalyst. I’d say Tyson’s strange past with his mother and everyone’s strange interest in his mother is the main focus. Some of the reviews on amazon said that many of the plot items are never resolved. I partially agree. The reader never learns why Tyson’s mother did the things she did and why she continued to do them in the present. Every horror monster does what they do for a reason. Freddy kills children for the power of their souls, Jason kills to get revenge for what happened to him. I think that’s what was missing for me, a back story about the mother. Why did she put a bag over her son’s head, why did she keep a corpse? More info on Dr. Hunter would have been nice, too. Was he already insane or was the mother’s influence making him insane?
The plot is typical of a horror, monster problem is created, monster must be fought and killed, an unexpected twist at the end. Unfortunately, the twist was expected by me, too many clues before the twist gave it away. This may not be the case for every reader. I’ve read and watched many horror books and movies and I study writing. I can see a plot device. I won’t say any more about it because I don’t want to give anything away for other readers. If you are new to reading horror, I think this is a great book to start with, but if you are saturated in horror like I am, well, this book might be too old school for you.
If you’re not into sex in your horror then this book is a good choice. There were no explicit sex scenes. There was very little adult language, too. Actually, I don’t recall any, but I may have missed one or too colorful adjectives. Bad language doesn’t bother me so I tend to not notice it unless it’s poorly used, over used, or out of character. This novel mostly uses gore for its horror so if you don’t like gore you may want to pass. However, for me, it wasn’t super gory, just enough to be horror.
I thought this book had some good moments and is worth checking out if you are not heavy into horror and want to get into it. It does need some editing and that is getting worked on as we speak. At least download the free sample and judge for yourself if you think it’s worth buying. I’d say once it’s fixed, it’s a great horror book to start with.
Be good, or the death wardens will come for you. Walls cannot stop them. Blades cannot cut them. They will track you down, and when they find you, they will steal your soul. Reen thought they were only stories meant to scare children. Then she became one. Divinely selected to assassinate a few for the good of the many, Reen learns to jump from shadow to shadow and claim her victims without question. For a time, she even finds a sense of family amongst the Haven Isles' most adept killers—something she’s never had before—though none of them can protect her from the parade of victims that haunt her dreams. If only the nightmares were the worst of her problems. Someone is hunting God’s killers, and an ancient evil has returned, slowly turning the Isles’ inhabitants into nightmarish creatures. Fighting to stay alive and protect those around her, Reen’s faith is tested as her quest for answers uncovers sinister secrets that shake the foundation of everything she believes until all that remains is the edge of her knife and the certainty that death comes for all. Keep writing C.J. Stilling. I'll read it!
I got Death Warden from Book Sirens. I enjoyed this book. Reen is our main character a teenage orphan who unfortunately becomes a death warden, a person picked by the life giver to kill people who will do terrible things in the future. She is a good person and hates killing but does because if she doesn't bad things happen.
This book is very well written and edited. You are brought right into the world and not forced to read a bunch of boring explanation. You learn as you go about the main characters surroundings.
In the beginning of the book Reen hates killing and for two years had a ring that keeps her from seeing her custodian who is the person that assigns the kills. She looses the ring immediately. Where and how she got this ring is never explained. Why all the death wardens wouldn't wear them so they don't have to kill is never explained. Maybe the author will write a story about this ring, but this novel never goes into it.
The world Reen lives in is very interesting and I feel pretty well developed. There are a few things here and there that left me scratching my head, but it does leave room for more books going deeper into these anomalies. And I would be interested in reading them.
The book also time jumps and at first left me a little lost, but a few chapters in I figured out the pattern and was then fine with the jumping and thought it worked well to tell the story.
I think both adults and young adults will enjoy Death Warden. It is unique and does have some violence, but not super gory violence. It's probably not a good book for kids 12 and under, might be a little too violent and had for them to follow. I'd say 15 and up would be mature enough to handle the violent material.
Why only 4 out of 5 black cats? Only because of the few things not explained like the ring and how things are structured and work. Small things that might be explained more in future books I hope.
4 out of 5 Black Cats
Slippery Souls by Rachael H Dixon is a fun read about a girl named Libby Hood. At the beginning of the book, she and her dog, Rufus, are struck by a car and end up in a place called Sunray Bay, purgatory for the rest of us. Now Libby finds herself on a beach where her dog can talk to her, monsters are real, and nothing in the world makes sense. As we travel along with Libby, we discover one kooky place that will keep you entertained for hours.
I really like how developed the Sunray Bay world is in this book. Dixon obviously put a lot of thought into the setting. It really comes alive as we travel along with Libby and discover it a piece at a time instead of having a bunch of info dumped on the reader in a telling fashion, a serious problem with many self-published stories. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then pick this book up. It’s a great example of how to do it right.
I can’t comment on the kindle or epub formatting because I was sent a PDF version of the story. However, I can comment on typos etc., and I found very, very few. Great job on the editing. Great writing and great editing make for a smooth read, which Slippery Souls definitely accomplishes.
The character development of this novel is excellent. Libby and Rufus’s sarcastic humor will keep you entertained, while the dark side of the other main characters will draw you into the story and make you wonder what could possibly happen next.
This book is a wonderful, entertaining read and different from other paranormal books on the market, definitely not another Twilight fanfic. Men and women alike will enjoy this read. If you think you’d take pleasure in a fast paced rump in the afterlife with witty and humorous characters, then give this book a try.