Book Review Alert: Order of the Shadow Dragon by Steven McKinnon

Reviewed: September 27th, 2025
Released: November 26th, 2023
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Magic is the enemy. When he discovers all is not what it seems, can a young knight survive long enough to protect the world from the forces of darkness?

Adrian Navarro burns for revenge. The lone member of a defunct military sect, the nineteen-year-old can’t shake the horrific nightmare of witnessing his father’s murder by shadowy fiends.

So when a cataclysm devastates a neighbouring kingdom and his superiors blame a powerful sorceress, he gladly agrees to assassinate her to settle the score.

Striking out across another realm’s border, the relentless soldier tracks the evil wielder of the dark arts. But after he’s ambushed by magic-users and captured, he’s shocked to discover his crusade for vengeance could be built on a stunning lie – and now the fate of the world is at stake.

As he’s confronted by soul shattering truths, can Adrian overcome his greatest fear and save the world? Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Guard in the Garden by Z.S Diamanti

Reviewed: September 6th, 2025
Released: March 4th, 2025
Genre: Cozy Fantasy

Embark on a wholesome journey of healing and self-discovery. A cozy fantasy tale of forging new friendships and overcoming fears. A quiet quest of family bonds and budding romance.

From dragon fire to garden flowers …

Felton Holdum spent his entire life training to become one of Galium’s elite dwarven warriors. When a bloody battle leaves him injured, he has no choice but to move into his eccentric twin aunts’ quaint home in the town’s quiet Garome District.

With his life of military service seemingly over, the captain of the city guard gives Felton his only chance at a fresh start in the new life he never wanted.

But when a human woman barges through his front door, the grumpy dwarf starts to wonder if there is more to life than war. The sunshine woman invites him to visit her garden, where Felton gains a new nemesis and a new purpose in life.

Take a walk through the garden and see what magic awaits.

Come enjoy the hospitality of the whimsical Garome District. Meet new friends as you sample new breads at the bakery, play a game of Castle Brick at the tavern, and taste homemade pies during the annual pie baking contest at the Fall Festival. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Quiet Side by Casey Blair

Reviewed: July 31st, 2025
Released: July 8th, 2025
Genre: Cozy Fantasy

She’s always flying toward the next shiny idea. He’s resolve incarnate—literally.
Now they’re stuck together in an isolated mountain cottage with only one bed.

When Kovan, the strongest living avatar of a god, is tasked with removing a magical field preventing priests from wreaking destruction unchecked, he defects, leaving behind everything he knew for the sanctuary of the Quiet side.

Alone for the first time and unable to work the magic that has defined his life, Kovan finds Tasa, who has made her home on the mountain at the Quiet’s heart and knows about everything—unlike Kovan, who no longer knows how to do anything that matters, from baking bread to protecting her, let alone the Quiet side.

Tasa takes Kovan in despite the risk to her safe haven because no matter how his belief in her makes her feel, Kovan isn’t staying. No one ever does, and he’ll have more important places to be once he learns to stand on his own.

But when the priests come looking for Kovan, the sanctuary they’re creating one loaf of bread at a time is at risk… unless they can discover their real strength together. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Ties of Death by Constance Lopez

Reviewed: June 26th, 2025
Released: April 4th, 2025
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

A cursed king. A stolen bride. A desperate quest.

Emana hasn’t seen her best friend Daenn since she left their gryphon rider clan for an arranged marriage eight years ago. She doesn’t believe the rumors that he’s become a ruthless tyrant since ascending the throne… not until the warm, kind boy she once knew hunts her down, kills her husband, and steals her back to the clan.

This new Daenn is cold, driven, and harder than the steel he wields with bloody efficiency, yet he claims to need her. Or at least, he needs her magic to temper his own chaotic, deadly power—through the shackles of marriage. But when Emana tampers with the new bond between them, their magic begins lashing out on its own, striking down innocents in alarming numbers.

Now, to save her clan and free herself from Daenn, Emana must journey deep into the heart of the jungle with him in search of a way to destroy his magic for good. But the more they are together, the more she sees echoes of warmth beneath his icy exterior that hint that maybe he hasn’t changed as much as she thought. Except the search to sever their bond is filled with horrors, and destroying Daenn’s magic might require a heavy cost—his very life. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: When Darkness Hunts the Dawn by M.H Woodscourt

Reviewed: June 22nd, 2025
Released: September 16th, 2024
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Rebel. Captive. Dragon.

Condemned for leading a rebellion against a petty tyrant, Mikoneh and his twin sister resign themselves to a fiery death. But when the stake is lit, the flames answer to Mikoneh—and he and his sister escape amid the ensuing chaos.

On the run, they discover they’re being chased by worse than the tyrant’s knights. From deep underground, Dark Mages hunt them for a birthright they never knew. With unexpected help from a magic box and a peculiar woodelf, the twins race for foreign lands to seek refuge from the legendary Dragon King.

But their relentless pursuers will stop at nothing to use Mikoneh’s blood to stir the embers of an ancient war against humans, elves, and dragons.

Soar into the first book of a dragon-centric adventure rife with political intrigue, fierce duels, and deep lore set in a complex fantasy world! Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Until All Curses Are Lifted by Tim Frankovich

Reviewed: June 18th, 2025
Released: August 13th, 2019
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Phenomenal power. Cursed for his father’s sins.

Marshal lives in magically-enforced silence, unable to communicate with those around him. When he discovers he’s also heir to immense magical power, he sets out on a quest to escape his curse, and maybe find a way to end the corrupt system that gave it to him.

But his half-brother, wanting the power for himself, dispatches a leper assassin to kill Marshal and those he loves.

Seri wants to use the system to become the most powerful mage in history. But her ambitions are disrupted when the earth itself begins to shake. The magic that holds the world together is failing, and the combined power of all the mages is not enough to save it. And then someone begins murdering mages.

Manipulated by outside forces, stalked by murderous foes and monsters, Marshal and Seri each must learn how to use their unique abilities before it’s too late. Dark powers from another realm are watching them. Watching and planning… Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin

Reviewed: June 17th, 2025
Released: October 31st, 2024
Genre: Writing craft

Revised and updated for the twenty-first century, Steering the Craft is Ursula K. Le Guin’s carrier bag of the essentials of a writer’s craft, a generous gift from one of the great thinkers about how – and why – to write.

This handbook is an accessible and profound guide to the craft of writing and editing. Le Guin lays out ten chapters that address the most fundamental components of narrative, from the sound of language to sentence construction to point of view. Drawing on the global canon, Le Guin offers her inimitably witty commentary and incisive dissection, developing into an exercise that the writer can do solo or in a group. No other writing guide offers such a comprehensive, experienced and kind approach to “steering the craft” as a writing crew.

Steering the Craft deserves a place on every writer’s shelf. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Woods of the Raven by Mary Calmes

Reviewed: June 10th, 2025
Released: June 22nd, 2023
Genre: MM Paranormal Fantasy

Something wicked this way comes…and it might be too late to stop it.

Xander Corey lives simply, sustainably, on the outskirts of Osprey, a small, quaint town in Upstate New York. He’s a librarian when the town’s budget can afford him, a good friend, kind neighbor, and also, a witch. And while that’s of no concern to anyone around him, there are others, non-humans, who have a vested interest in Xander’s family land. Xander knows something dark and dangerous is brewing. He’s just not quite sure what.

And that’s not the only mystery he’s dealing with. The new chief of police is, by turns, giving him heart palpitations and homicidal thoughts. Xander can’t decide if the gorgeous yet infuriating Lorne MacBain is on his side, or trying to drive him insane. Added to that, the man doesn’t believe in magic, and since that’s who Xander is, their future looks anything but bright.

But Lorne is not the unimaginative, stick-in-the-mud Xander thinks he is. And a rock to anchor him as his life is turning upside down is just the thing Xander needs. Now if only the two of them can stay alive…. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Dream of the Sphere by Jay S. Willis

Reviewed: June 8th, 2025
Released: October 25th, 2021
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Three thousand years of tradition torn asunder. When the truth comes out, will a hero emerge to pick up the pieces?

Dashira Eisenheart takes ultimate comfort in her community. So she’s thrilled when her brother ascends to the coveted order chosen to protect the world from safely sealed-away, millennia-old, dangerous magic. But her faith in her beloved parents’ loyalty cracks after she spies her mother sneaking about town to meet with the enemy.

Striving to stay focused on her own academic studies, Dashira becomes caught in family tensions that soon reach a boiling point. And as her father’s Brotherhood and her mother’s rebel group head toward a cataclysmic clash, the young seeker finds herself trapped by conflicting choices.

Will she face her fears and accept her role in a grand destiny? Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: The Last Dragon Knight by Tim Akers

Reviewed: June 4th, 2025
Released: February 25th, 2025
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Betrayed by his friends. Driven from the land he swore to protect. Hunted by the legions of Hell. Cursed to carry the Dragon’s fury in his soul. Determined to survive.

Corem Holt was once an assassin, before he was a warrior. Before he was a cataclysm in the shape of a man. Blessed by the Crow and cursed by the Dragon, he fled the destruction of his homeland. It was a destruction for which he was responsible.

To his friends, he is a traitor. To his enemies, he is the last real threat in their endless war. Both will hunt him to the ends of the earth. And so he hides. He tries to live a simple life, to survive, to be happy. But mostly, he tries to forget what he has done.

All that comes undone when his past catches up to him. What starts as a chance encounter with an old enemy rapidly devolves into a battle for life and death, not just for Corem, but for the people he’s come to love while in hiding. To save them, he must make one last stand far from home, far from the throne he was sworn to protect, far from the memories that brand him a traitor. For anyone else, it would be impossible. For Corem, it’s inevitable.

Because he’s not just a hero.

He’s the last Dragon Knight. Read My Thoughts…