Review of: Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

 

This thrilling sequel to the much-talked-about Nightshade begins just where it ended - Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemy, and she's certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer - one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack - and the man - she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.

 

 

My Review:

I just finished the galley of Wolfbane and I have to say it is even better than Ms. Cremer's first book Nightshade. I absolutely love the characters and places she has created. This is a book filled with action and  intrigue. I can't wait for the next book to find out who is loyal and what happens to someone torn between two worlds as well as two loves.....I give this one 5 croaks....

B.

Review of: Dead Iron the age of steam by Devon Monk

Welcome to a new America that is built on blood, sweat, and gears...


In steam age America, men, monsters, machines, and magic battle for the same scrap of earth and sky. In this chaos, bounty hunter Cedar Hunt rides, cursed by lycanthropy and carrying the guilt of his brother's death. Then he's offered hope that his brother may yet survive. All he has to do is find the Holder: a powerful device created by mad devisers-and now in the hands of an ancient Strange who was banished to walk this Earth.


In a land shaped by magic, steam, and iron, where the only things a man can count on are his guns, gears, and grit, Cedar will have to depend on all three if he's going to save his brother and reclaim his soul once and for all...


My Review:
I had never read a book by this author and was very pleased when I found I really enjoyed the book. I feel the author invented some really interesting characters and quite a different world for these characters to come to life in. I give this 4 croaks....

Other Books by this Author:

Allie Beckstrom
1. Magic to the Bone (2008)
2. Magic In the Blood (2009)
3. Magic in the Shadows (2009)
4. Magic on the Storm (2010)
5. Magic at the Gate (2010)
6. Magic on the Hunt (2011)
7. Magic on the Line (2011)
8. Magic Without Mercy (2012)

 

Age of Steam
1. Dead Iron (2011)

 

Collections

A Cup of Normal (2010)

B.

Review of : Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford

After two hundred years undead, Jane Austen still has bite. But will her most recent literary success be her last?

Life was a lot easier for Jane when she was just an unknown, undead bookstore owner in a sleepy hamlet in upstate New York. But now the world embraces her as Jane Fairfax, author of the bestselling novel Constance - and she's having a killer time trying to keep her true identity as the Jane Austen a secret. Even the ongoing lessons in How to Be a Vampire, taught by her former lover Lord Byron, don't seem to be helping much. Jane can barely focus on her boyfriend, Walter, while keeping him in the dark about her more sanguine tastes.

To make matters worse, Walter announces that his mother is coming for a visit - and she's expecting Jane to be Jewish. Add in a demanding new editor, a convention of romance readers in period costume, a Hollywood camera crew following Jane's every move, and the constant threat of a certain bloodsucking Brontë sister coming back to finish her off, and it's enough to make even the most well-mannered heroine go batty!

 My Review:

I thought this was a real kick on Jane Austen and her friends it was very witty and quite enjoyable to read.....I look forward to the next book in the series. 31/2 croaks

B.

Review of : The Silver Sword by Angela Elwell Hunt

The auburned-haired O'Connor women share a bond far deeper than their striking physical appearance. These courageous, high-spirited women all push against societal limits in this exciting historical, romantic novel that spans generations and countries from 13th-century Ireland to the excitement and mystery of 15th-century Prague.


It is said that as Cahira, daughter of the great Irish king Rory O'Connor, lay dying of a wound from a Norman blade, she beseeched God that others would follow her calling. To Kathleen O'Connor, Cahira's story was nothing more than a fable--until research divulged that the tale was true. As a stunned Kathleen realizes that she herself bears the mark of Cahira, she wonders if she is destined to continue the legacy.


To uncover the answers, Kathleen delves into the past to find the truth about the Heirs of Cahira O'Connor. It is a journey that carries her across generations, from the battlefields of 13th-century Ireland to the castles of 15th-century Prague. It is a past filled with peril, courage, vengeance, love, and sacrifice beyond anything she has ever known.


My Review:
I love books written of actual events and persons and this is such a book. Well written filled with religious fervor of the 14th century.  This portrays Jan Hus a priest who spent his life offering the common people writings of the gospels so they could know the truth and not have to accept the teachings of the Catholic church which at the time had three men claiming to be pope and each one more corrupt than the next, common knowledge if researched,  Pope John  XXIII,Baldasarre Cossa, was convicted of 54 charges against him  declared to be the mirror of infamy, an idolater of the flesh and a devil incarnate.
Jan Hus was burned alive but claimed no wrong to the end. His followers carried on his teachings. Thank God for freedom of religion. I really enjoyed this book and give it 5croaks.....

Heirs of Cahira O'Connor
1. The Silver Sword (1998)
3. The Velvet Shadow (1999)
4. The Emerald Isle (1999)
The Golden Cross (1998)

B.

 

Review of : Little Bitty Lies by Mary Kay Andrews

In a suburban Atlanta neighborhood where divorce is as rampant as kudzu, Mary Bliss McGowan doesn't notice that her own marriage is in trouble until the summer night she finds a note from her husband, telling her he's gone-and taken the family fortune with him.

Stunned and humiliated, a desperate Mary Bliss, left behind with her seventeen-year-old daughter, Erin, and a mountain of debt, decides to salvage what's left of her life by telling one little bitty lie.

At first, Mary Bliss simply tells friends and family that Parker is out of town on a consulting job. Then the lies start to snowball, until Parker turns up dead. Or does he?

Mary Bliss's formerly staid existence careens into overdrive as she copes with an oversexed teenager, a mother-in-law with Ethel Merman delusions, and the sudden but delicious shock of finding herself pursued by two men: the next-door neighbor who's looking for a suitable second wife, and a dangerously attractive ex-cop who's looking for the truth about Parker McGowan.


My Review:
This is a real southern charmer, I got a kick out of reading this , it sounds like something I would do and then have it backfire on me. I give this 4croaks......

Novels

Little Bitty Lies (2003)
Hissy Fit (2004)
Deep Dish (2008)
The Fixer Upper (2009)
Summer Rental (2011)

B.

Review of : Shakespeare Undead by Lori Handeland

When speaking of William Shakespeare, legends and rumors abound. But what is fiction? And wherein lies the truth? Some say his impressive body of work is too impressive. No single human being could have written all those plays, that multitude of sonnets. Others insist the reality of the historical plays, the pain of the tragedies, the joy of the comedies, the authenticity of characters are all too much for one man. He'd have to be superhuman to produce such genius. Well, here's the truth: Will was not only one of the greatest writers in the English language, he was also a necromancer. In exchange for a front row seat to history, Will supplied zombie armies. Sure, he's sorry now. Hey, he's refused to raise a shuffling, shambling corpse for years. And the talent - which comes only to a necromancer who's become a vampire - is extremely rare. So why are there so many zombies strolling around London? Will needs to find out. He has help from Katherine Dymond, the famed 'Dark Lady' of Sonnets 127-152. Katherine is Will's one and only love, the woman he can only be near in the dark.Together, Katherine and Will struggle against the reanimated corpses, even as they attempt to discover who has raised them, who is controlling them and what the zombies are after.

 

My Review:

All I can say is it made me laugh....3croaks....

B.

Review of : the Tender Mercy of Roses by Anna Michaels

While the body of rodeo star Pony Jones lies motionless in the northern Alabama woods, her spirit is on a mission to find her killer. Invisible to the eye but not to the sixth sense, the only thing Pony can do is guide the living to the truth.

Her grief-stricken father, Titus, wants nothing more than retribution for his daughter's death, so when former police detective Jo Beth Dawson comes to town, something compels him to seek out her help.

But when Jo Beth and Titus team up to track down Pony's murderer, it turns loose a whirlwind of intense emotion and unexpected encounters. As they uncover more and more clues leading them to the killer, dark family secrets are revealed and the two must search their souls for redemption.

 

 

My Review:

I have read thousands upon thousands of books in my life time, once in a while you come across a book that grabs you from the first sentence and doesn't let go until you are finished, this is such a book. Sad, sometimes funny, tender yet tragic. Anna Michaels is not just an author she is a weaver of stories which is a gift some authors do not possess. I recommend you read this book and I sincerely hope to read more from this storyteller. I give this 5 croaks....

 

B.

Splash Into Summer Winner :)

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and participated in the Splash Into Summer Giveaway Hop.

Using Random dot Org I have chosen a winner.

#19 - rickimc

Congrats!

An email has been sent and confirmed.  :)  See you next time.

B

Review of : Graveminder by Melissa Marr

The New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series delivers her first novel for adults, a story about the living, the dead, and a curse that binds them.

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words "Sleep well, and stay where I put you."

Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place--and the man--she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D--a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.

My review:

This was a really good book full of twist and turns and prices paid for deals made . You enter  a world unto itself where people who are born there can never leave and those few who do leave are destined to return. It goes to show things put into motion decades in the past still hold a meaning for some people in the present. I give this one 4 croaks.....


B.

Review of : Lydia By Tim Sandlin

Fifteen years ago, Tim Sandlin concluded his acclaimed "GroVont" trilogy. But some characters call a writer back.


Managing the Virgin Birth Home for Unwed Mothers means the women in Sam Callahan's life keep his world interesting. But it's his family members that really take the cake. His daughter may be having a nervous breakdown, and his mother's just out of prison for attempting to poison the President's dog. And when they hit the road with a geriatric, an adoptive son trying to discover his parentage, and an enraged psychopath on their tails, all hell may break loose.


My Review:


This was a very quirky and at times quite funny book. It is definitely one of the most dysfunctional families in the universe. I enjoyed reading this and plan to go back and read Mr. Sandlins other books.... I give this 4croaks




GroVont Trilogy
1. Skipped Parts (1991)
2. Sorrow Floats (1992)
3. Social Blunders (1995)
4. Lydia (2011)
Skipped PartsSorrow FloatsSocial BlundersLydia








B.