Tag Archives: Kindle

Rock ‘n’ Roll is Undead by Rose Pressey – Book Review

So, my holiday hiatus from reading has finally ended. I’ve read two books in less than twenty-four hours and I’m churning to start another one. (This would be about the time that my dear husband starts to remark “I wish you’d put those books away for five seconds” followed by a distinct huff.) Before diving into another novel though, I thought it best to at least review the two I’ve read first.

First up is Rock ‘n’ Roll is Undead (Veronica Mason Series, Book 1) It’s about a Rockabilly Witch (though a mostly failed one) who is the lead singer in a band. Just about the time her career is taking off, a fellow band member is killed, launching her into a race against the clock to figure out who the Big Bad guy is before he comes calling for her.

Overall, it was a compelling novel with interesting, quirky characters and a decently complicated plot. The writing was smooth as expected and I’d recommend this novel to anyone who likes their paranormal novels to be a unique amalgam of mystery, suspense and light romance. I wasn’t 100 % satisfied with the ending, as I felt one of the curve-balls was a little too out of left field, though I still felt satisfied in the end. All-in-all, a great paranormal novel and I’m adding the series to my list of those I want to continue reading. Four Stakes, um, I mean Stars. 

In my next post I’ll offer my thoughts on the second book, SEED by Ania Ahlborn!

Post-Christmas Updates

I hope everyone out there had a great holiday and I’m sorry I didn’t get around to wishing you all the best sooner! Other than the holidays, I’ve had several things sucking my time away over the last few weeks. Finding a replacement vehicle for my husbands totaled truck. Unloading our house. Finding a new house. Packing and moving right before Christmas. Two kids that need a mommy who is in the Holiday spirit. Hopefully, things are going to get back to normal soon.

I finally selected a new book to read. After weeks of no reading, I was itching to get my nose stuck in a proverbial e-book. I settled on Walking On Broken Glass, by Christa Allen. Originally, I added the book to my samples pile in my Kindle because I adored the cover. I didn’t even know what the novel was about. I’m quirky like that sometimes. At any rate, so far, so good. I’m getting into the book and I’ll report back to let you know my thoughts after I finish it.

Otherwise, I’m dying to get back to the edits on Blood Chord and to finish the other few books I’ve been working on. Now, if it would just snow several feet– enough to keep me locked in the house for a few days, maybe I could catch up on all the work I have to do!

Always Late For The Party or, Reading List Catch-Up

Of the few constant thing in my life, no is more true than this: I am always late for everything. I can leave early. I can leave on time. It doesn’t matter really. I will always arrive five to ten minutes late. A dead car battery, a chain of creeping tractors in the road. Something always comes up.

I’m hoping that applies to my funeral as well, so at least some smart-assed relative can say, “See, I always told you she’d be late to her own funeral. Hand over the five-spot.”

But I digress. I seem to do a lot of that on here. My brain does tend to spurt off on tangents… see there I go again. What was I talking about? Oh, yes. Catching up on my huge list of To-Be-Read books. Or I was getting there at least.

So always late to the party, I am reading a Halloween themed book just a few weeks before Christmas. It’s probably my unconscious’s way of tempering the sticky-sweet feel-good holidays with something of the darker variety. What ever my motive, I’m really enjoying my latest read. It’s The Halloween Collection by the fantastically creative people at Indie Eclective.

So far I’ve read Ralphie the Special Werewolf by P.J. Jones (fantabulously hilarious!), Sunwalker’s Kiss by Shéa MacLeod (I want to see more of Jackson- a lot more :-) ), Haunting in OR 13, by Alan Nayes (creepy, spooky and expertly crafted), and To Taste of Shimmering Revenge by Jack Wallen (witty, greusome and buckets of fun) but I’m sure the rest of the stories are just as good. I’ll include the Amazon product desctiprion below for all the slightly-twisted Gurls and Boyz out there.

As of this writing, the collection is actually FREE over on Amazon. It’s a great way to sample some of the hottest Indie Authors out there and won’t cost you a dime (for now anyway) so what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION FROM AMAZON:
The Indie Eclective: What is it, who are they, and why can they spell neither “eclectic” nor “collective” correctly? The Indie Eclective is an ensemble of authors operating under the assumption that Readers like Good Books. The Halloween Collection showcases spooky reads from nine very different authors. Whether you enjoy light or dark paranormal, YA or adult-themed genres, there’s bound to be a story to suit your tastes. Thanks for reading!

Rhyn Trilogy: Origins, by Lizzy Ford: Gabriel’s fate as an assassin seems set until he meets a courageous half-demon child named Rhyn, whose plight rekindles the humanity he thought he’d lost.

Ralphie the Special Werewolf by P.J. Jones: Ralphie doesn’t want to get snipped, but his pack is tired of watching him defile the sofa cushions. Now, he’s got to find a mate by Halloween night—or else.

Sunwalker’s Kiss by Shéa MacLeod: While searching for a magical bloodline, Sunwalker Jackson Keel discovers magic of a different kind.

The Village of Those Who Touch The Dead by M. Edward McNally: “All obligations will be paid. There are no exceptions.”’

Haunting in OR 13, by Alan Nayes: Halloween never frightened Sara McCaffe, until she stepped into Operating Room 13!

To Taste of Shimmering Revenge by Jack Wallen: A vampire is awakened after four hundred years only to find his kind embarrassed and shamed by the rash of shimmery, hunky vampires on the big screen. His revenge will be sweet and tasty.

Magickal Vendetta by Heather Adkins – Revenge is a dish best served up in a pink saucepan for accident-prone blood witch, Gretchen. By harnessing the power of Halloween, she hopes to break the bond with the soulmate who did her wrong.

From the Keegan’s Chronicles series: Haunted House by Julia Crane – Keegan, Lauren, and Anna find much more than they bargained for during an innocent trip to a commercial haunted house. Someone long dead awaits them on the second floor…

From the Gifted Teens series: Mind-Blower by Talia Jager – Kassia and Daxton’s romantic picnic is interrupted by the arrival of creatures bent on her destruction. Will her powers fail her when she needs them most?

Book Review – The Temple by Heather Marie Adkins

I was looking for a good, witchy, paranormal read over the Halloween Holiday, and boy did I find it. Admittedly, life sidetracked me a little and I didn’t get around to reading The Temple until after Samhain, but that hardly matters.

The story kept me sucked into it until the very end, leaving me tired and with a stiff neck this morning. Not only is the plotting in The Temple original and well-paced, but the writing is tight and clever, with just the right amount of snarky wit. The witch/ Wiccan details throughout the book never feel homogenized or stereotypical, and that is very hard to accomplish these days.In addition, I was particularly enamored with the sections pertaining to The Goddess and the descriptive way the author handles things.

Author Heather Marie Adkins is a practicing Wiccan and Independent author (Indies Rock!) so I’m not surprised at how polished and authentic the novel is. And the life she breathes into each and every character… very impressive! Equal parts mythology and mystery, with a dash of romance– The Temple is a stellar fist novel and I’m excited to read more from Adkins!

Product Description From Amazon:

Vale Avari has a mysterious past and a laundry list of super-powers, but that’s nothing compared to what she finds upon moving from small town U.S.A to jolly-good England.

A chance dart throw lands her in Quicksilver, an off-the-map place with a big problem – people are dying, and word is, it’s supernatural.

At her new place of employment, a temple dedicated to the ancient Mother Goddess, Vale learns something even more shocking – women guards are disappearing at an alarmingly patterned rate; women who possess special gifts like her own.

Supernatural powers aside, Vale isn’t ready to believe in the Wild Hunt as the culprit, and she’s determined to prove the deaths are acts of human violence.

Plagued by a brute with a history of domestic violence and lusting after a dark-eyed man with a secret, Vale has a limited amount of time to discover the killer before he strikes again. In the process, she’ll learn things aren’t always what they seem and the supernatural might not be so extraordinary after all.

The Hunt could ride for her.

Reading ADD; Or My Inability To Pick My Next Read

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m disgraced trying to plan my daughters belated Birthday/ Halloween party. Or maybe it’s the staggering amount of books loaded into my Kindle, Nook and iBooks apps. Or maybe, just maybe there are too many books out there to choose from, stalling my selection of the perfect book to spend the next several hours of my life with.

Wait, did I just utter the phrase “too many books” for real? Ye, Gods! I didn’t mean it, I swear!

But back to my dilemma at hand. What to read next? In keeping with the season, I’d love to read something spooky. Bonus points if the book is witchy, original and an exceptional read. So tell me, do you know any good books that fit the bill? I’d love to hear your suggestions. Let me have ‘em!

Perhaps something along the lines of one of these:

Book Review – Diary of The Displaced by Glynn James

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when I downloaded this book, but whatever my preconceived notions were, Mr. James blew them out of the water.

Reading this novel felt a bit like falling down Alice’s portal. Given the nature of the plot, it couldn’t have been written any other way. As the main character, James Halldon, wakes up in a strange foreign place, the story begins. We learn more about his predicament as he does. Of course I had to keep reading to figure out where he was and if he’d ever escape.

Diary of The Displaced is a well-written, uniquely crafted, one-of-a-kind book. Part horror, part sci-fi; totally entertaining. On a side note, I’m already reading book two of the series, Chasing Spirits now!

Book Review – Cage Life by Karin Cox

I snagged this book while it was offered for free over on Amazon, mainly because I’ve seen the author around on a few boards and I was curious about her work. After reading Cage Life, I felt a little girl-crush coming on. Cox writes with such beauty and insight that I found myself jealous. She writes like I aspire to. She writes like people think, even when they don’t realize it.

Evocative. Haunting. Powerful. – I could be describing the story collection or the author’s gift for the written word. In fact, I am describing both.

You should scoot on over to Amazon now, check out Cage Life and Karin Cox’s other works. Maybe you can still snag it for free!

Product Description From Amazon:

What happens when life doesn’t turn out as planned? This collection of two evocative stories (each with a surprising twist) explores the choices and compromises we make in life and in love, and how they can trap or liberate us, depending on our mindset. Each story comes with an unexpected twist that makes reading all the way to the end imperative.

In “Cage Life,” first published by [untitled] in 2010 as “Still Life”, a young mum feels like a prisoner in her own home. Her decision to escape the bonds of marriage and motherhood, just for a few hours, has unexpected consequences that force her to a re-evaluate what it really means to be loved, to be married, and to be free.

In “The Usurper,” unconditional love is explored within the boundaries of age and longing. Basil is in his eighties, with an illustrious career in law enforcement behind him, when he meets Carla — a beautiful, energetic and much younger mistress. But when Simon appears on the scene, can Basil keep her or does she, in fact, keep him?

Book Review – Craved by Stephanie Nelson

I won this book through a LibraryThing giveaway and read it promptly. The cover is beyond gorgeous and the blurb compelling, so I thought, “Why not sign up for the drawing?” I’m glad I did. Craved by Stephanie Nelson is a perfectly tasty morsel of paranormal goodness, and I do hope the book manages to garner the attention it deserves.

As far a paranormal books go it’s withing the genre norms so as not to be off-putting to die hard fans. This book does have several nuggets of originality and quirkiness and we all know I like things with the big “Q”. Imagine, a town solely inhabited by Supernaturals. What fun! I can’t wait to see where the author takes the town and the characters within its invisible boundaries in further books of the series.

The writing is tight througout, though the first page or so felt a little overly descriptive. Once the author found her sea legs the book clipped along nicely. So nicely, in fact, I gave myself a stiff neck from hunching over my ipad to finish it :-) There’s a host of compelling characters and hunky love interests and the main character Gwen has some unusual abilities that end up making her a hot commodity. Fabulous first start to a series, and I’m sure the series will become one that I have to read in entirity. Sigh –> That list is getting long! But I guess a girl could have much worse problems on hand…

Book Review – Whispers In The Sand by Barbara Erskine

My daughter calls me a “word nerd” often, and unlike other choice things she has to say about me, with this I am not offended. I freely admit I’m addicted to books. It’s an addiction, like many others that can lead to financial ruin if left unchecked. Which is why I adore signing up to win free books on sites like LibraryThing and GoodReads. I’ve kept food on the table by feeding my addiction with many won books. This book, Whispers In The Sand is one of them.

As an American, I had a little trouble getting into the book, since it’s written from the viewpoint of an English woman. But looking at that gorgeous cover I just couldn’t give up. And I’m glad I hung in there, for the book totally sucked me in. I completely missed my kids bedtime, so oblivious was I. Thank goodness my husband was on the ball. But I digress.

Cloaked within a modern mystery is an ancient one, and the two story lines are melded expertly and with finesse. Erskine ramped up the tension steadily until I just had to know what happened next – with both the present line and the historical one. Ancient Egypt, cursed relics, rampant madness and evil-afoot. How could I not have loved it?

Now on to my few, minor nitpicks… Several times a few of the characters irritated me and I found myself wondering if someone would really respond to such obnoxious behavior with meek and proper manners. But then I remembered I’m American and social graces are not the same here as they are “across the pond” in many ways.

Also, I’m a little chaffed at the ending. I can still feel myself dangling just a little and I hate that. Perhaps there will be a sequel? One can hope.

Overall, Whispers In The Sand is potent, mystical, in some ways tragic and has a healthy dose of suspense and mystery. Erskine is a lyrical writer who is able to imbue genre fiction with literary flavor. I’d recommend the book whole-heartedly despite my minor complaints.

If you’ve read this book I’d love to hear your comments!

Book Review – Haunted On Bourbon Street

It’s that time of year again; the season that ushers in the spooky, the magical, the otherworldly. Not that there’s a big difference in my year-round reading, but I do find myself devouring paranormal books this time of year at a particularly gruesome rate. So I was glad to get my hands on a copy of Haunted on Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase.

This book has a little bit of everything to appease the para-fanatic: ghosts, witches, angels, dream-trespassing… even angels. The story is original and captivating, and I found myself pulled into the book in no-time. My one little nit-pick is this: I don’t feel like I was able to get *really* invested in the main characters like I wanted to. But with the fast paced plot, it’s hardly noticed. And this book is the first of a series, so there’s still time for further investment.

Overall, Haunted on Bourbon Street is an enjoyable, engrossing paranormal book with quirky characters, a compelling plot. It is very well written and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. Hope it comes out soon!

Earn a Free Copy of SKIN by Alex Owens

As a special thank you for everyone who joins our mailing list to receive infrequent updates, we are giving away copies of the short story collection SKIN, by Alex Owens!

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For the entire month of October, to honor the spooky, strange and downright creepy, all you have to do is sign up through our mailing list. Once the month has ended, expect an email with the download code for a FREE copy of SKIN! See, easy-peasy!

To Sign up: http://eepurl.com/eaOhH

Or, you can capture the QR code and sign up that way!

What Readers are Saying About Skin:

“SKIN features three short stories, all well-written. The author has a definite talent … I predict great success for Alex Owens, a genuine storyteller in the best traditions of the art form.” from Karen Wodke on LibraryThing.com

“…definitely interesting and unusual-not found in any other book that this reader knows of. This book is recommend to adults who enjoy the odd side of genres…“ from Krystal on GoodReads About SKIN: Short Fiction

“Well written book with dark twisty tales. I recommend this book.” from KarenW on GoodReads.com

Book Review- Witches on Parole: Unlocked by Debora Geary

Some of you may remember my book reviews of A Modern Witch and A Hidden Witch, so I was please to be given the chance to read and review the author’s newest book Witches on Parole: Unlocked (A Modern Witch trilogy, book 1)

Those who have read Geary’s other books will be please to find some of the same characters in this fisrt book of the new spin-off series. The modern witchy themes are present, as is Geary’s flair for crafting page-turning, first-rate books.

In Witches on Parole we meet two new witched in need of some guidance. Enter the Witchlight program. Part community service for the magically inclined and part service organization, Witchight and it’s members offer more than witchly guidance and a fresh start. They offer the chance to become part of the family, so to speak. I don’t want to give to many details away, but I’ll just say that Geary is a Fab writer with a “gift” of her own. She pens creative, engaging books that drawn a reader in while giving us characters that start to feel like family. And now I’m hooked on this series as well as the original Modern Witch series.

Gee, my reading list seems to be growing by leaps and bounds lately!

Book Review – Happier Than a Billionaire by Nadine Hays Pisani

After seeing this author and book on various sites for writers and indie authors, I went on a mission to track it down over on Amazon. My journey was not in vain.

Happier Than A Billionaire is one womans story of chucking it all and moving to Costa Rica. I mean, come on, who hasn’t considering doing something equally zany? I certainly have, though lately it’s become something more of an obsession than a crazy notion.

Let me just say, I adore this author, who writes with moments of clarity and wit, bracketed by comedic timing. She spins an entertaining tale, while calling out others to reconsider the way they are living. If something makes you miserable, why on earth would you continue to do it? Exactly.

Even if you’re not considering a move to a tropical locale, I’d still reccomend Happier Than A Billionaire to just about anybody. It’s quirky, fun, and well worth the tiny price tag!