Review of Foreshadow by Brea Essex

Foreshadow by Brea Essex

Review by Gabryyl Pierce

4 of 5 stars

What do you when your delicious new boyfriend is out to kill you—and the class pain turns out to literally be your guardian angel?

Following the death of her mother Raena Davenport has gone to live with family friends. New boyfriend, Andrei, is helping her cope — until she finds out he wants to kill her. Andrei is a devil, a fallen angel who wants to use her sacrifice to get back into Heaven. Then there’s Logan, her guardian angel. He’s done nothing but annoy her, but now he’s got to save her.

Foreshadow is the first book in the Shadow Imperium Series by Brea Essex. Overall the story is intriguing, the characters interesting and the plot works fairly well, though the ending feels a bit rushed. Definitely an enjoyable YA read.

About Brea

Brea Essex was born in Gilroy, California, called the "Garlic Capital of the World." She graduated college with a degree in Medical Assisting. She lives near San Jose, California with her husband, their dog, three cats, and enough books to start a library.

Review of the Carry on the Flame Series by Jodine Turner

Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call by Jodine Turner

Review by Gabryyl Pierce

4 1/2 of 5 stars

Sharay Kallah was born into a family of Celtic priestesses. Sharay's aunt, Phoebe, uses black magic to steal Sharay’s fortune and magical power. When she’s committed to a psychiatric ward and accused of murder, Sharay struggles with the temptation for revenge. With the help of handsome Welshman Guethyn, Sharay learns to open her heart again. But can she learn how to stop the hatred she feels for her aunt from destroying her and prove once and for all love is the ultimate magic?

Carry on the Flame explores the world of Celtic magic as a true religion and not just a means to an end. The settings and characters are fully realized and the magical elements ring true.

One word of warning: the book is listed as Young Adult but does contain a detailed sex scene which may lend itself better to an older YA audience.

Carry on the Flame: Ultimate Magic by Jodine Turner

Review by Gabryyl Pierce

4 1/2 of 5 stars

Sharay Kallah is on a journey to become a Celtic priestess. On the run from her aunt, Phoebe, who used black magic to steal Sharay’s power, Sharay leaves those she loves to protect them. Sharay’s strength shines through as she as she faces her demons, both literally and figuratively, leading to a final showdown between the darkness and the light.

The sequel to Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call, this second novel further explores the world of Celtic magic as a true religion and brings a satisfying conclusion to the story of a young woman truly coming into her own power and learning to embrace her destiny.

About Jodine:

Jodine Turner is an author ofYoung Adult/Adult fantasy, visionary fiction, magical realism, and paranormalromance. While living in Glastonbury, England, the ancient Isle ofAvalon, Jodine began writing the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea series about priestesses who have lived in Glastonbury down through the ages to today. The novels are an adventure-filled initiation into the Mysteries of the Goddess. Jodine is also an Adorata practitioner in the spiritual path of embodying divine love and balancing the feminine and masculine within, as well as a therapist, consecrated priestess, and deacon in the Gnostic Church of Mary Magdalene. Jodine lives in Oregon with her husband Chris and their three magical cats who go by the code names Mojo, Minnie, and Pumpkin. You can read more about  Jodine on her website, www.jodineturner.com

Review of Broods of Fenrir by Coral Moore

Broods of Fenrir by Coral Moore

Review by Gabryyl Pierce

4 1/2 of 5 stars

Brand Geirson is a five-hundred-year-old werewolf who doesn't want to be his father's son, King of the Broods of Fenrir. Brand put an end to his father’s barbaric rule -- and his father’s life -- and walked away from everything he knew. But when two women he cares for are threatened, Brand must become King and find a way to control the broods without becoming the brute his father was.

Coral Moore’s Broods of Fenrir is a werewolf saga infused with Norse mythology. There are three separate plots going on, which can be a bit much at times, but overall the story moves well and the characters are intriguing. Ingrid was particularly crazy and I couldn’t wait to see what she’d do next.

Overall,  Broods was a quick and excellent read. I look forward to more from Moore (pun intended).


About Coral Moore

Coral Moore has always been the kind of girl who makes up stories. Fortunately, she never quite grew out of that. She writes because she loves to invent characters and the desire to find out what happens to her creations drives the tales she tells.

Prompted by a general interest in how life works, her undergraduate schooling was in biology. She follows science news and enjoys conversations about genetics and microbiology as much as those about vampires and werewolves. Coral writes speculative fiction and is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Writing at Albertus Magnus College.

Currently she lives in Connecticut with the love of her life, who offers both encouragement and kicks in the tail when necessary. Also in residence are two mammals of the families Canidae and Felidae.

 

Review of Angel Unraveled by Tamela Buhrke

Angel Unraveled

By Tamela Buhrke

4.5 out of 5 stars

Review by Mandy G.

Andi Andreas woke up from a car accident with new abilities like being able to read minds and see ghosts.  Finally coming to terms with this she used her meager inheritance and bought Madam Sophia Psychic Readings business and duplex from her friend and Psychic Trainer Ethel.

It’s not yet summer and things are already getting hot in Arizona. She is having horrible nightmares that demons are going to destroy the world and she is the only one who can stop it. And then, Crazy Alice at the Coffee Shop tells her that she needs to stop the vampires from going to war. If that isn’t enough, she has three gorgeous men (each with his own secrets and motives) who need her help and do their best to tug at her heart strings.

Tamela Buhrke did a fantastic job bringing this story to life with her witty dialogue and colorful well-rounded characters. I couldn’t decide which hero I wanted to get the girl, I was rooting for them all. My favorite character in the book doesn’t say a word but made me giggle often and a couple times brought me close to tears. The interactions are engaging and the story moves at a delightful pace. I had a hard time putting the book down, I wanted to turn the page and find out what next.  I am looking forward to the sequel.

Buy Angel Unraveled: http://amzn.to/JF7frj

Visit Tamela Buhrke: http://tamelabuhrke.com

Review of Devon Ruthin: A Vampire in Love by Tessa Stokes

Devon Ruthin: A Vampire in Love by Tessa Stokes

Reviewed by C. Whetzel

2 out of 5 stars

Bliss, a young and restless teacher, decides to spend her holiday driving through the country to visit castles, abbeys and ruins. She has been lured in by the romance of a fiction book she couldn’t put down. Upon arriving in a charming town, she meets a stranger that takes her breath away. Devon is a centuries old vampire, or at least he used to be. He has aligned himself with a community of ancient beings who have created an antidote for his vampirism, as long as he continues his treatments. Having never been in love, Devon is thrown for a loop when he spots Bliss. It’s love at first sight, for him. He lets the moment slip by, and is desperate to find her again. He follows her trail, and brings her back to a perfect life.

Meanwhile, Drew, Devon’s twin brother and also a vampire, is bent on revenge towards his brother. By some twist of fate, Bliss meets Drew before Devon is able to find her again. Once Drew recognizes the connection his brother has with Bliss, he sets his sights on tracking her down. As Drew is on the verge of kidnapping Bliss, he is thrown off by an old flame that he will stop at nothing to reclaim. The plot weaves in and around Drew’s desire for Elise, one of the ancient beings, and his desire to take her as his own. We are left with Devon and the ancient community believing that Drew is dead. However, Drew was saved at the last moment by one of his followers. He has no memory of who he is. This is the first in a trilogy.

What I liked about this book: Ms. Stokes creates an interesting world, where the possibility exists to be “cured” from vampirism. I found it easy to recognize some of the fictional longing regarding a romantic life that plagues Bliss.

My constructive critque: Though the world Ms. Stokes creates has a lot of potential, I felt very turned off by the writing style. It’s not the fact that it is written in 3^rd person omniscient, it’s the fact there is a lot of ‘heading hopping’ with no distinguished point of view changes.

I’m just about to get into the scene with Bliss and Devon, and SMACK, I’m thrown into a scene with Drew and Elise. This gave me a whiplash effect. I encourage the author to hire an editor to fix the grammatical errors and find a writing group or beta readers to help with her writing style. Some examples are rehashing previous conversations, consistency, and showing vs telling.

It took me three tries to get through this book. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it. I don’t want to end on such a sour note. I appreciated the story line and enjoyed the characters. Like I said, this story has a lot of potential; it just needs to be tightened up a bit. With a thorough edit and writing style change, this would be an enjoyable read.

Author's Note: Please be aware that the book, set in England, uses many English spellings and does use the punctuation outside of speech marks method.

About Tessa Stokes

I write urban fantasy romance/ paranormal romance because I like to blend real life and the fantastic in my stories. Presently I live in the United Kingdom but I have lived in many places in the world including the Australian outback and North Africa. I do love  the English countryside and the availability of historical and ancient places to visit and this is where I sometimes get my inspiration for stories.
 

 

Review of Clockwork Genie by Kevin P.S. Broden

CLOCKWORK GENIE 

Reviewed by Gabryyl Pierce

2.5 out of 5 stars

 

Clockwork Genie is the first published novel by Kevin P.S. Broden.

Cecilia Orchard, broke and always on the verge of being fired by a nasty boss, has just been informed she's the prime suspect in the murder of a grandfather she never knew existed. Now she's heir to a vast fortune, prime murder suspect and new owner of a golden pocket watch that houses a powerful genie. The entire world can be hers with a wish, including the hunky cop investigating her for murder, but what does Cecilia really want?

Broden has created a story that combines Contemporary Fantasy/Murder Mystery/Paranormal Romance. Overall, Clockwork Genie is a quick read which unfortunately falls a bit short in the execution. The premise is interesting, but was overshadowed by a few flaws that pulled me out of the story, including choppy transitions, flat characters, and too much information in several scenes that wasn't necessary to the momentum of the plot.  

Book Review: Ghost of a Threat by Beth Dolgner

Ghost of a Threat 

Reviewed by Amanda James

5 out of 5 stars

This is the first book in a series about a paranormal investigator. Betty Boorman or 'Betty Boo' has been investigating paranormal cases in Savannah Georgia for three years when she comes across a case like she has never seen before. This forces her to partner with her nemesis, Carter Lansford, who runs a much-publicized paranormal investigation company. Carter thrives by promoting his self-proclaimed expertise in the supernatural.

When Betty is faced with a violent presence, neither she nor Carter know quite where to go next. Help arrives in the form of a GQ model. But looks can be deceiving; the handsome stranger named Maxwell turns out to be a demon. Maxwell involves himself in the investigation, and everything comes with a price. 

Author  Beth Dolgner pulls you in from the start with twists and turns that continue throughout the book. She combines the world of the paranormal with intriguing descriptions of historic Savannah. She paints a picture that will stick in your mind.

Book Review: Supernova by Crystal Ward

Reviewed by Courtney Whetzel 

4 out of 5 stars

Evania had a picture perfect life.  She lived in a small town with parents who loved her.   Her reality is fractured when both parents were killed in a car accident.  Evania struggles with what could have been, and what she feels should have been.  She shouldn’t be here.  She’s depressed, and is content to fade into the background to rejoin her parents, with whom she can feel visit her from time to time.  Enter Desmond, the darkly handsome, mysterious and gifted stranger that materializes out of the woods behind her house.  He promises a meaningful life, however, he’s extremely cryptic about what that looks like.  Evania is drawn to him and makes the effort to change her life, for good.

Supernova is a freshman effort from the new author, Crystal Ward.  Ward’s story is original, with exciting paranormal elements, intriguing characters and a touch of romance.  This is the first installment with a promise of more to come.  The book itself spends most of its time setting up the back story and introducing characters.  I found that some of the plot was predictable with the reader being able to figure things out before the main character does.  Perhaps that’s just a pet peeve of mine, but it made me want to shake the living tar out of Evania. My only criticism is that some of the wording didn’t flow well.  I had to reread a few sections to make sure I was following what was happening.  Her description of places and buildings left a lot to be imagined.  There were also a few loose ends, hopefully to be clarified in book two.  None-the-less, I stayed up way too late to see what would happen.  The ending of the book has a nice twist to it.  I look forward to more from Ms. Ward.

About Crystal Ward

The first story I ever wrote was about farm animals . . . I was eight. With no real training in the writing area, I'm a work in progress, learning as I go, and am just fine with it. :- )  I live in Southeastern Ohio with my old lady cat, Princess.  Until I strike it big, I'm a restaurant manager who can't cook at home and is obsessed with Arizona Green Tea, string cheese, and the color orange. I've lost count how many times I've changed what I want to be when I "grow up", but for the first time in my life, I know what I want, and I won't give up until I get it.

Visit Crystal Ward at: www.thesupernovasaga.com and www.fireflyandwisp.com

PYN Guest Review of Beg for Mercy by Shannon Dermott

Beg for Mercy

Guest Review by Charlotte Abel

It’s not often I find a paranormal romance with a twist I haven’t seen before. Not only was “Beg for Mercy” original and entertaining, it captured my imagination as well as my heart. 

The main character, Mercy Moore, knows she’s different. She wants a normal life, a normal relationship with her boyfriend -- which includes the ability to kiss him without killing him. 

Her mother could teach Mercy how to control the beast inside that craves human life as much as intimacy, but she refuses. Mom tells Mercy she’s not ready for this knowledge and responsibility and to just be patient. (Yeah, right) 

Mercy suspects Mom is just trying to keep her budding sexuality from going into full bloom. But there's much more than just Mercy's purity at risk.

The hottest guy at school, bad boy and heart-breaker Flynn McCallister, claims he has the ability to teach Mercy everything she needs to know. The only problem with that solution is he insists it requires hands-on lessons. Mercy is attracted to Flynn (who isn’t?) but she’s dating his best friend, Luke -- another hottie but with the patience of a saint.

If you think this sounds like just another love triangle, think again! Mercy’s best friend, Paul, knows her secret and in spite of the fact that she nearly killed him, loves her anyway. But instead of sitting around pining for her, he dates a cheerleader. (Go, Paul!)  

The mysterious, somewhat dangerous and exotic Sebastian appears later in the story and I can only hope we’ll see more of him in the sequel.

With all these hot guys vying for her affection, you’d expect Mercy would be a bit vain. She isn’t. We get to see her mature from a slightly depressed -- and who wouldn’t be if you couldn’t kiss a guy without killing him -- introvert into a kick-ass heroine willing to sacrifice her own life to save those she loves.

***WARNING*** There are a few realistic scenes with teenage drinking and sexuality, but nothing graphic. I highly recommend this book for anyone that enjoys a good paranormal thriller age 14 and up. 

I can’t wait for the sequel!

~ * ~

This guest review is provided by Charlotte Abel. For more information about this reviewer, please visit:

http://thechannieseries.blogspot.com/p/about.html

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PYN Review of The Hambledown Dream

The Hambledown Dream

Review by: Jennifer Bacile

          An original, engaging plot unfolds after a climatic beginning to this debut novel from Dean Mayes.  After a shocking opening, the story changes, and it’s unclear, at first, exactly how the storyline ties together.  The beginning of Andy’s story is a little strange, going from the heart-wrenching story of Sonya and Denny straight into a trauma bay half a world away.  As the plot reveals itself, however, I found it very comforting and not outside of the realm of possibility for such a thing to occur, which made the story all the more endearing.  As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no hidden plot twists and that the story is exactly as it seems.  However, this is not a bad thing, because the characters are personable and likable and as a reader, I quickly found myself rooting for them. 

        Mayes did an excellent job of portraying the bittersweet ache of yearning felt by Andy as he realized he simply *must* seek out Sonya, as with the portrayal of Sonya’s grief and denial that Denny was gone from her life.  It could be said that an undertone of premonition existed in the description of Sonya’s denial of her grief and her refusal to let herself feel the loss of Denny. 

          Overall, it was easy to identify with the characters and although the plot was predictable in its conclusion, it was also within the realm of possible, which makes the story much more endearing and much less fantasy-driven than other books within the genre.  I would love to see this story on the big screen as a movie and have little doubt that Mayes has a promising future ahead as an author.  A solid, worthwhile read. 

An Inside Look at Back of the Book Reviews

The website was originally my idea back in March 2011. I had been talking to an author and he suggested that as I read so many different books there might be a gap in the review market for a site that covers all genres and wasn’t so specific. So the idea was formed, now all I needed was a friend to come in on the site with me. Ashley, my best friend in America, jumped at the chance and so our professional relationship started.

Ashley had so many great ideas that she took over the making of the site. We went through a couple of ideas before we settled on the current one, and I know that Ashley has worked hard to sort out a brand new layout for our upcoming September Extravaganza. She is still working very hard for the site and I would be completely lost without her.

My role on the site has been to email authors we work with, currently over 200 which is incredible. I have worked closely with some amazing people and made some solid friends. The response to our site is amazing, we never expected it! We have people ask us every day for our spotlight, interview and review features.

The books we have are very varied. We have almost everything on the site now from children’s books right through horror to paranormal. We have favourite genres but as we pride ourselves on our motto to review all genres it is very interesting reading new work and finding some amazing authors. We work hard to read as much as we can but there is a massive backlog still, but we will get to every book as promised.

We have already had one event on the site, our Independence Read-A-Thon, we had over 50 people join us and the feedback we received was that they would join us for another event and also that we ran it well and worked hard to achieve what we did.

While planning our second big event to celebrate six successful months of the site and a very special birthday we emailed the authors we have worked with and currently we have almost 100 people signed up to take part in interviews, guest posts, giveaways, competitions and also our massive month long read-a-thon. The slots we had were filled within a matter of hours and we are still receiving emails daily about the event and we are very excited to be hosting it.

The future for the site for Ashley and I looks very promising and we are eager to keep up the contacts we have and look forward to having new authors join us. Our adventure makes us smile every day.

If I could say anything to the people who have worked with us so far I would say: Words can’t express how grateful we are that you have chosen us and we look forward to a very bright future, We Hope you will join us on our adventure!

~ * ~

Short Bio: My name is Kate and i live in the UK. I turn 30 on September 1st this year and i live with my cat, Molly. I was born in Watford before moving 3 times to Worcestershire where i currently live. 

I have been very interested in writing and books since i was a little girl and have always been never more than 10 paces from a book. I enjoy all genres which is the reason i decided to set up Back Of The Book Reviews and invited my closest friends to join me on this adventure. So far we have been given 250+ books and we work very hard to meet targets and expectations set by our authors and readers.
 

Website: www.backofthebookreviews.com
Twitter handle: @BackBookReviews
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Back-of-the-Book-Reviews/211942305495917