Monday, February 28, 2011 M.M.F.F. Challenge: Week #29

Amy C over at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie over at Tink's

Placehave come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge. Each Monday a new picture prompt will be posted and if you choose to participate - you post your story on Friday - 350 words, give or take. 

And here is picture prompt #29: 

 This is a lovely picture with great possibility however I am really going to have to ponder this one for a while. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with....

B.

Flash Friday Week # 28

Amy C over at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie over at Tink's Place

have come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge. Each Monday a new picture prompt will be posted and if you choose to participate - you post your story on Friday - 350 words, give or take. 


And here is picture prompt #28:

I Can't Believe It Ended This Way

By: Brenda Sessoms

Keelee Tualla princess of the kingdom of Wyvia, sits alone in the breva, the mystical forrest which surrounds her father's kingdom. She silently weeps afraid if she gives in to the anguish and  betrayal she feels she will never survive. Survive she must. She has to bury her beloved father, the King of Wyvia,rescue her younger sister, and kill her bastard brother Jakra.

If she had not been waylaid on her journey from the gathering, which her father insisted she attend,by a pompous ass who refused to accept no until she was forced to show him what it felt to receive a set of blue balls,she would have been there to prevent what took place.

Her father could never believe Jakra meant him any harm. Keelee knew what hatred lurked behind his charm and fake smiles. She was also aware of the abnormal desires he held for her sister ignoring the fact they shared the same father.

Keelee had watched as his mother a wicked sorcerss had twisted him into the cruel and evil person he had become.

Keelee was the princess of her people, an ancient race descended from a sacred bird so beautiful and majestic people once worshipped it. Her fathers line was the only ones left who still bore the feathers of the bird and the ability to fly.

Little did Jakra know, his whereabouts were no secret to her  and within two days time he would be dead.

She laid her father to rest without a funeral but time was of the essence. As soon as she gave instructions to her most trusted men she took to the air.

She found him exactly where she knew she would.He was so arrogant he had left no guards and had passed out in a drunken stupor.

She was to late to prevent the rape of her sister but for that he would die fully awake and very slowly.

She removed her sister binds and carried her to safety,ensuring her she would return soon.

She returned to Jakra and waited for him to awaken,when  he did she kept her promise to herself he died very slowly.

She took cold determined pleasure in his screams as she slowly ripped him to pieces.....

The End

Word Count: 402

B.

Review Of The Furies Of Calderon Book One : By Jim Butcher

In the realm of Alera, where people bond with the furies-elementals of earth, air, fire, water, and metal-fifteen-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos-when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies-Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war.


My review: 

In this first book of the Furies, Jim Butcher intricately weaves a story of epic proportions.


We first meet a young female cursor, Amara, trained in all manners to protect and serve the kingdom. Along with her we meet Fidelias patriserus ,trainer, long time veteran of the Legionaires.They are on Amara's first mission since graduation from the academy.


Her mission fails and she learns it is a set up and Fidelias has become a traitor to the realm. He has joined another High Lord and with the help of mercenaries  and the vicious and cannibalistic Marats, he intends to overthrow the High Lord Gauis .

Next we  are introduced to Tavi, a fifteen year old boy who has no magical powers known as furies to call upon and for this is considered by some to be a freak. He lives with his Aunt Isana and his Uncle Bernard on his uncle's steadholt which is similar to a fiefdom, owing allegiance to the kingdom and to the Most High Lord Gauis Sextus.   


As the story unfolds Tavi and his Uncle Bernard, keeper of the steadholt are attacked by a Marat warrior and his  eight foot predator bird. Bernard receives a critical  injury while fighting the Marat. A terrible storm is ensuing and Tavi calls Brutus his uncle's fury to transport Bernard home. Knowing there is no way the fury can transport both of them in the storm in time to escape the Marats, Tavi remains behind.


Tavi hears cries and discovers Amara, dressed as a slave, and fights the beast attacking her to get her to shelter. They become fugitives together but she can not reveal her true identity  until she is certain of what he knows and who his family really is.


She is also being pursued by Fidelais and the two mercenaries with him. One a great swordsman and the other a female watercrafter who is a cold blooded killer.


They make it back to his uncle's steadholt only to discover the three show up seeking shelter but actually pursue them.Fidelais wants them dead before they can warn the garrison of the impending attack of the Marat and the attempt to kill and overthrow  Gauis.


As always Jim Butcher's characters come to life in a way  you can easily envision them.


I enjoyed this book and intend to read the rest of the series.


I give this one 4 croaks....


 

Codex Alera
1. Furies of Calderon (2004)
2. Academ's Fury (2005)
3. Cursor's Fury (2006)
4. Captain's Fury (2007)
5. Princeps' Fury (2008)
6. First Lord's Fury (2009)

B.

     

February 22, 2011 Happy Birthday Bloduedd

B.

Smokin Seventeen: by Janet Evanovich

Where there's smoke there's fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. The bail bonds office has burned to the ground, and bodies are turning up in the empty construction lot. To make matters worse, Stephanie is working out of a motor home she shares with a dancing bear, and Joe Morelli's old world grandmother has declared a vendetta against her. And just when Stephanie decides it might be time to choose between the two men in her life, Morelli and Ranger, a third man from Stephanie's past moves back to Trenton...


Break out a cold drink and slap on some sunscreen, this summer is sure to be a scorcher with Smokin' Seventeen.

Boy I can't wait for this one , coming June,2011.....

Review Of Cheat The Grave The Fifth Sign Of The Zodiac: By Vicki Pattersson

Las Vegas socialite and other wordly avenger Joanna Archer gave up everything when she embraced mortality - abandoning her powers and altering her destiny to save a child . . . and a city. Now her former allies are her enemies - and her enemies have nothing to fear.


Yet still she is bound to a prophecy that condemns her to roam a nightmare landscape that ordinary humans cannot see and dare not enter. And a beast is on her trail - an insane killer blinded by bloodlust, who's determined to rip much more from Joanna than merely her now-fragile life. Survival is no longer an option in this dark realm where good and evil have blurred into confusing shades of gray - unless she can gather together an army of onetime foes and destroy everything she once believed in.


My Review: Have you ever wondered what happens to the signs and leftovers from defunct casinos and clubs in Las Vegas? Well I'll tell you , they go to a graveyard in the desert of Las Vegas. Guess what else hangs out in that graveyard? Shadows both light and dark. Of course they are against each other.The light Shadows are supposed to protect humans from the dark and the evil.Some of them are so fast you can not see them move and they have super powers, they also have magical weapons,  designed for each individual shadow.


Along comes JoAnna Archer, born of a light mother and a dark father. JoAnna was always on the outside even in her own family. She and her sister Olivia were abandoned by their mother and raised by a ruthless very wealthy father who doted on Olivia and seemed to not only resent JoAnna but barely tolerate her.


As JoAnna becomes embroiled in the shadow life she learns there are a group of young people who follow their escapades in manuals written by a young man who owns a book store. Some things are written before they even take place.


When a super shadow known as the Tulpa comes to light JoAnna learns he is her real father and he wants her dead.


Olivia is killed and the only way JoAnna can survive is to surgically take on Olivia's features and assume her life.



Her reasons for doing this is to destroy the Tulpa. Romance, action, alternate realities all culminate in a really cool series. I highly recommend this series.


I give these books 4 croaks....

Sign of the Zodiac
1. The Scent of Shadows (2007)
2. The Taste of Night (2007)
3. The Touch of Twilight (2008)
4. City of Souls (2009)
5. Cheat the Grave (2010)
6. The Neon Graveyard (2011)

Flash Fiction Friday Week #27

Amy C over at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie over at Tink's Place
have come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge. Each Monday a new picture prompt will be posted and if you choose to participate - you post your story on Friday - 350 words, give or take. 


And here is picture prompt #27:

 
Redemption 
By Brenda Sessoms


As she gazes into the misty night,her thoughts wander through the thousands of years she has wandered the earth, longing desperately for her life to end, knowing it never will for she is immortal.

Always searching for redemption, longing for just a glimpse of the afterlife promised by God.Denied to her because of the father she never knew, Amazarak, one of the fallen.

Cast out of heaven for the crime of taking her mother as a wife and corrupting mankind.

He taught her mother to become a sorceress, an evil woman dealing in all the dark arts.She learned her mother's craft well.

She was there in the beginning as mankind became more and more corrupt, she was also there when a Man from Galilee spoke of redemption.Since that day and through the ages she has fought evil.

You can not imagine the evil of this world, it lurks around every corner and in every facet of life. It could be the little old lady on the corner, or perhaps the butcher who always smells of burning flesh.

She will go on fighting as long as man walks the earth...perhaps in the end she to will find peace, but for now she will just let the demon she smells go on thinking she is an innocent, helpless girl on the verge of ending her life... 

The End
Word Count:  222

B

Review: Afterlife the Resurrection Chronicles: By Merrie Destefano

Chaz Dominguez is a professional Babysitter in New Orleans, helping to integrate the recently deceased into their new and improved lives. Though Fresh Start has always been the only game in town, resurrection isn't all it's cracked up to be. Nine lives are all a person can get - and a powerful group of desperate, high-level Nine-Timers will stop at nothing to possess the keys to true immortality.

Now the only hope for Chaz and his family - and the human race - lies in the secrets locked away in the mind of Angelique, the beautiful, mysterious Newbie he must protect . . .

My review: This story is set in the 21st century, centered around a family whose business is giving people second lives, no more death, as a matter of fact you can come back nine times, just like a cat folks. However you will have to read over a fourth of the book to finally put this all together, as the author does not give you an inkling as to what is going on...bouncing from one character to the other in a very haphazard way, but when you finally figure out what is going on it gets pretty interesting. I like the concept, a different approach of mankinds futile attempt at eternal life by their own means.

I will give this one  3 croaks..

Review: Shadow Fever: By Karen Marie Moning

In Dreamfever, Karen Marie Moning has left listeners with the most heart-stopping cliff-hanger to date. Shadowfever will answer all the questions fans have been dying to know in the final chapter of MacKayla Lane's shockingly suspenseful and deeply satisfying adventure.

My review:  This is the last book in the Fever series. I love these books and in reading them I have become Ms. Moning's character MacKayla Lane.

MacKayla goes to Dublin searching for the reason of her sister's death which becomes a search for her sisters murderer. MacKayla is in peril herself from the time she hits Dublin. Through  these books you follow her journey into a world she never dreamed exsisted. She goes to work at a bookstore called BB&B owned by a sexy and mysterious Jericho Barnes who is much more than a mere man. Through her journey she learns her and her sister were not only spirited away at birth to America where they were adopted by the lovely Lane family, but also to protect them from a foreboding prophecy concerning her and her sister.

She finds her real mother was a seer and part of an abbey whose sole purpose of life was to prevent the most evil book ever written to be released into the world...They failed. She becomes embroiled in in the world of Seelie courts both dark and light. She has to face the darkest evil known , which is consuming the world at and alarming rate both human and vegetation.Throw in some cool allies, ugly ugly bad guys, some sexy gorgeous Scottsman,

more thrills and chills than you can shake a stick at and you've got a killer series.

I give this book and the series 5 croaks

MacKayla Lane
1. Darkfever (2006)
2. Bloodfever (2007)
3. Faefever (2008)
4. Dreamfever (2009)
5. Shadowfever (2010)

                                                                                                                                                     

 

Review: Raziel by Kristina Douglas

She was just an ordinary mortal . . .

'You're dead' is so not what Allie Watson wants to hear. Unfortunately, it explains a lot. Like the dark, angelically handsome man who ferried her to this strange, hidden land. The last thing she remembers is stepping off a curb in front of a crosstown bus. Now she's surrounded by gorgeous fallen angels with an unsettling taste for blood - and they really don't want her around. Not exactly how she pictured heaven.

. . . until death catapulted her into a seductive world she never imagined.

Raziel is unsure why he rescued Allie from hellfire against Uriel's orders, but she stirs in him a longing he hasn't felt in centuries. Now the Fallen are bracing for the divine wrath brought by his disobedience, and they blame Allie for the ferocious Nephilim clawing at the kingdom's shrouded gates. Facing impossible odds at every turn, the two must work together to survive. Raziel will do anything to defend his spirited lover against the forces of darkness - because Allie may be the Fallen's only salvation.

My Opinion of this book: I love urban fantasy and realize it is fiction.. However when an author attempts to impose his or her religious believes on the public by calling it fiction it can become offensive to some people. I was offended and after the fourth chapter decided I have been offended enough. therefore I chose not to read any further.  I give this book a big fat 0...

B

Review: Right Hand Magic By Nancy A. Collins

 

Book Blurb

Like most Manhattanites, aspiring artist Tate can't resist a good rental deal-even if it's in the city's strangest neighborhood, Golgotham, where for centuries werewolves, centaurs, and countless other creatures have roamed the streets.

Her new landlord is a sorcerer name Hexe, who is determined to build his reputation without using dark, left-hand magic. As Tate is drawn into Hexe's fascinating world, they both find that the right hand does not always know what the left hand is doing-and avoiding darkness is no easy trick...

My opinion of this book:

This is the first book in what I hope will become a series . I really enjoyed reading this well written book and totally could imagine myself living and kicking it in Golgotham. This book is full of fabulous characters, and places along with some killer action. I'll have to give this one 4 croaks....

B 

Never Too Old to Blog

I became so excited with my daughter's blog that I decided I wanted one of my own.  I read most every book she reads, however I sometimes have different opinions than her after I've read the book.  Therefore, since I really like to express my opinions I talked her into making me a blog.

I hope that my blog is enjoyed by others and that I can enjoy theirs in return.

Check back in later for upcoming reviews.

B