Book Review Alert: Sea of Souls by N.C Scrimgeour

Reviewed: August 25th, 2023
Released: August 4th, 2023
Genre: Folklore Fantasy

Dark be the water, and darker still the creatures that lurk within…

Free-spirited Isla Blackwood has never accepted the shackles of her family’s nobility. Instead, she sails the open waters, searching for belonging on the waves.

But when tragedy calls Isla home, she realises she can no longer escape the duty she’s been running from. Selkie raiders have been terrorising the island’s coasts, and when they strike at Blackwood Estate, Isla is forced to flee with her hot-headed brother and brooding swordmaster.

To avenge her family and reclaim her home, Isla will have to set aside old grudges and join forces with an exiled selkie searching for a lost pelt. The heirloom might be the key to stopping the bloody conflict—but only if they can steal it from the island’s most notorious selkie hunter, the Grand Admiral himself.

Caught between a promise to the brother she once left behind and an unlikely friendship with the selkie who should have been her enemy, Isla soon realises the open seas aren’t the only treacherous waters she’ll need to navigate.

As enemies close in on all sides, she must decide once and for all where her loyalties lie if she wants to save what’s left of her family—and find the belonging she’s been searching for.

Sea of Souls is a dark fantasy filled with selkie folklore, ancient magic and high-seas adventure. Perfect for fans of Scottish-inspired settings and dark mythological creatures. Read My Thoughts …

Book Review Alert: Recruitment by K.A Riley

Reviewed: August 20th, 2023
Released: November 28th, 2018
Genre: Dystopian Fantasy

In the Valta, no matter what month you were born, everyone is assigned the same birthday. November 1st. It’s the anniversary of the day when the government declared war on the Eastern Order.
The day you turn seventeen, the Recruiters come to take you away. And no one ever hears from you again.

It’s October 31st. Today, Kress is sixteen years old.
Tomorrow, she’ll be taken.

The good news? So will her best friend Cardyn, and Brohn, the handsome, enigmatic boy she’s avoided all her life.

The bad news?

Recruitment isn’t what any of them expected.

Weeks of training await. Military and psychological tests, escape rooms, hand-to-hand combat. The Recruits are told they’re the key to winning the war. But with each day that passes, things begin to make less sense.
If only Kress had been able to bring her trained raven, Render, with her.
If only none of them had ever had to come to this place. Read my thoughts…

Book Review Alert: A Descent of Dragons by Jasmine Young

Reviewed: August 15th, 2023
Released: July 31st, 2023
Genre: Epic Fantasy

One hatchling’s fall will break a continent.

A hatchling will descend from the skies.

It will forever change the fate of one rider.

But this is far from a dragon. Better that it had never come at all.

This is the portentous truth about what caused it to fall into the world of men…

An event that will precede the breaking of a continent.

Only available by subscribing to Jasmine Young’s Epic Legends mailing list.

Read my thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Stone of Time by Pamela Chartrand

Reviewed: August 13th, 2023
Released: July 31st, 2023
Genre: Wicca Fantasy

When you recognize your destiny, you’ll know what to do.

Paige Delaney is coming to terms with her identity as a bloodline witch. Although she’s one of the most powerful of her line, she struggles to access her magical gifts.

Returning to the Wiccan bonfire, she receives a mystical vision of a monk attacking a hooded figure, and she knows she must pursue it. She travels to France to find the enigmatic bookseller who introduced her to the sacred text that started it all. With his mentorship, and the mysterious Stone of Time, she time-travels to 14th-century Avignon on a daring mission to rescue the Herbarium.

There, she meets the Companion who is attempting to save the life of a young man, but risks falling into a trap set by the Papal counsel.

Overwhelmed, Paige fears her tenuous grasp on her powers will fail.

And when fate reunites her with her timeless love, Paige must make a heart-wrenching choice—

Return to the present, or remain and leave behind everything she knows and holds dear. Read My Thoughts …

Book Review Alert: Salvage Right by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

Reviewed: August 9th, 2023
Released: July 4th, 2023
Genre: Space Opera

A door never closes, but a window opens . . .

With origins in the Old Universe, the malevolent, acquisitive intelligence of Tinsori Light sought to infect others with itself and send those agents out into the wide new universe to infect even more.

For centuries, two heroes stood between Tinsori Light and the vulnerable universe—Light Keepers Jen Sin yos’Phelium and Lorith of the Sanderat.

Just when it seemed that they—merely human—must fail, Tinsori Light, enfeebled by aged systems, succumbed to the stress of a unique spatial event—and died, leaving the station a shell.

Luckily, the light keepers have back-up. A mismatched team of arcane specialists are on-station, working nonstop to preserve the Light, build trustworthy systems, and open the refurbished station for business.

In fact, ships are already incoming, and it becomes a matter of urgency to sort friend from foe. In particular, the Lyre Institute wishes to acquire Tinsori Light, and will do anything, spend anyone, to achieve that goal. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Too Many Shadows, Not Enough Light by LC Ainsworth

Reviewed: August 6th, 2023
Released: January 12th, 2023
Genre: Science Fiction

Princesses are born to defend their people.

Being the best Imperial Air Force cadet, spending time with her friends and maybe meeting a cute boy is all Princess Astrid Zainab Korsning better known as Izzy wants.

If only Yanar, her country, was not at war with Petra.

If only she wasn’t forced to become regent while her mother was fighting on the front lines.

If only she had not come face to face with the unknown enemies while investigating signs of infiltration on earth by dark forces.

If only she was not in danger of falling in love with the wrong boy during her first trip to London.

Princesses are born to die for their people

The kingdom of Petra: once upon a time the best place in the galaxy for art, literature and music. That was until the war against The Alliance, a federation of planets led by the Yan empire.

Their last hope for victory, travelling to a planet of savages named Earth and attacking from the inside, their most powerful country, Yanar.

The Hendus: survivors of a dead world, desperate for a new home.

Their last hope for survival, finalising the colonisation of Earth from the shadows which they started 200 years ago.

The Backhand : Marginalised group of nature lovers, forbidden from practicing their religion by Yanar.

Their last hope for revenge, the alienation of the Members of the Tens, Yanar’s aristocracy and the imperial family.

Petra, Hendu and The Backhand agree, the empire must fall.

And it starts with the death of a 17-year-old princess. The only problem, Izzy is not just a princess, she is also an Omni, a human who possesses five supernatural powers. Read My Thoughts….

Book Review Alert: The Night Orchid by M.G. Hernandez

Reviewed: August 1st, 2023
Released: April 21st, 2021
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Nothing happens in Wakefield…

But Josephine “Jo” Ligaya wakes up to find Alexa Ocampo, standing next to her window, black hair illuminated by the moonlight, gazing out of the frosted glass. No reason exists in Jo’s solitary world for the cheerleader to be in her room—except for two. She died and found her way to the young medium. The missing girl. Dead at eighteen.

Forced to join forces with Julian Taylor, the town’s celebrated athlete and a former friend, she must traverse the land mines of the spiritual realm and the equally intense halls of Wakefield High. This unlikely pair—a high school loner and a popular jock—must learn to work together to find the remains of a murdered teen with only communications from the dead as their guide.

Night Orchid is a coming-of-age tale of severed friendships, broken promises and the enduring powers of love. It’s Ghost Whisperer, but with hot-tempered teenagers and a strong female lead. Get ready for a wild ride.

*Strong language, sexual innuendos and violence. Night Orchid touches on mental health issues and unhealthy coping mechanisms (ie: alcohol abuse, drugs, a habit that resembles cutting). Please take caution if any of these themes trigger you. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Of Deeds Most Valiant by Sarah K. L. Wilson

Reviewed: July 25th, 2023
Released: June 1st, 2023
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Eleven paladins walk into a monastery. Only one knows it’s a trap.

When Victoriana Greenmantle is summoned to represent her paladin order in an unusual quest, the timing couldn’t be worse.

Having just witnessed the horrific death of her mentor, she is barely a paladin at all. Worse, she has a trapped demon on her hands and if anyone discovers she hasn’t quite managed to cast it out, she will be made to suffer consequences worse than death.

The summoning requires Victoriana to journey to the newly revealed Aching Monastery and there to search for and recover the fabled Cup of Tears on behalf of her order.

But her order is not the only one seeking this relic. And her rivals are stronger, smarter, more experienced and just as motivated as she is. Will this cynical paladin have the faith to find the truth?

When Adalbrand Von Menticure is summoned to the Aching Monastery he is unamused. Far from his holy work healing the sick and injured, this quest seems a waste of his time. But when the murders start and he’s thrown together unwittingly with a young female paladin who keeps breaking all the rules and drawing everyone’s ire, he is forced to confront ghosts of his past. Can he push past his guilt to accept this tempting ally?

Together, these two holy paladins may be the only ones who can discover what or who is killing their compatriots and whether the Cup of Tears is really worth the bloodshed and danger within the monastery walls before time runs out and they are trapped forever.

A complicated mission, you say? Oh, but it gets worse, because forbidden love is slowly stalking them both, complicating everything, and leaving them each more vulnerable than they can afford to be in the face of a danger worse than either of them ever imagined.

Will this pair find strength in their strict discipline and holy orders in time to escape, or will they fall before the twin dangers of a rogue killer and an attraction more deadly than the simple risk of death? Read My Thoughts …

Book Review Alert: A Thin Witchline Between Love and Hate by T.L Brown

Reviewed: July 23rd, 2023
Released: March 29th, 2022
Genre: Dark Fantasy

Witch politics, maddening men, a desperate demon, and monsters from above blow apart Lucie Bellerose’s world. Can she still save her thinning witchline?

The confident witch next door? She’s a hot mess. The reliable, level-headed friend you know you can count on? She’s broken and hiding big lies. The powerful woman who finds herself at the center of an old prophecy? She’s overwhelmed.

Witches hide things.

Lucie Bellerose holds secrets in her heart, fear in her belly, and her Tarot cards close to her chest. She’s a witch among too many men, with too many problems, and one thinning witchline.

A tyrannical former teacher who likes to inflict pain? Check. A loyal friend she keeps dragging through hell? Check. A mysterious man who excites her and infuriates her – often in the same 60 seconds? Check. Then there are the expectations of the Congress of Empire Witches, danger lurking behind doors to other worlds, and one psychotic demon who needs to possess her.

And this is only the beginning of Lucie’s problems.

Join Lucie Bellerose as she navigates infuriating men, witch politics, controlling her growing power, a fiery temper, a crazed demon… and ‘monsters and beasties’ when doors to other worlds begin to open. Read my Thoughts …

Book Review Alert: The Blood Crystal by Matt Twinley

Reviewed: July 12th, 2023
Released: April 26th, 2021
Genre: YA Fantasy

Some secrets run deeper than blood…

Long ago, a battle was fought against the dark Etheria, creatures who wanted control of the world. Now, Etheria are kept hidden by Trucekeepers. They’re just myths… or are they?

Hannah is a frustrated sixteen-year-old—fed up with school, her diabetes and desperate to find somewhere she belongs.
Daegan is a Trucekeeper—a fearless warrior with a dark past, sworn to keep the existence of mythical creatures a secret.

Their lives couldn’t be more different… But everything changes when a magical blood crystal brings them together.

After Daegan saves Hannah from a vicious zburător, Hannah discovers the existence of Etheria, mythical creatures from all around the world, hidden by the Trucekeepers for centuries.

As Daegan trains her to become a Trucekeeper, Hannah rubs shoulders with Etheria, learns how to cast magic and finds somewhere she can finally call home… until she discovers that her mysterious past is the key to a war that could destroy the Trucekeepers and her new home forever. Read My Thoughts…