Reading Fanatic Reviews
All Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal Reviews
A Spellbinder’s Denial by Marie-Claude Bourke
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, and Bol.de
A Spellbinder's Denial*
Another Well-Written Installment in the Series
I believe this is the third book that I have read of this Black Oak warlock series, and I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed the other two. This author has a way of drawing you right into the book because she creates such believable and sympathetic characters. Even in the first chapter at the auction, I felt I already had a good sense of who the hero and the heroine were, what they had gone through, and what it meant for them to meet again. There was a slight feeling of an information dump at the beginning, but actually it was mostly woven in pretty well compared to most narrative sections of that ilk. The story truly is character driven. I very much enjoyed watching this story unfold with two such decent people who are doing their best to protect those they love and care about. I’m a sucker for stories with a wounded hero or a wounded heroine; this story had both.
Cursing by Lynne Murray
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Cursing*
Humorous, Men-in-Black-style Story
What a fun read! In a book that is very reminiscent of Men In Black but magic-like powers and paranormal creatures, the heroine is indoctrinated into a secret society that is a part of, but separate from, our own—one that seeks those with unique abilities so they can protect the regular part of humanity from dangers that the everyday people don’t know about, after she accidentally kills her boss using powers that she never knew she had or even existed. The heroine has a quirky sense of self that is a delight to read in this first-person narrative. There’s a lot of ironic humor in the book; it’s fun to come across these little nuggets. There were some delightful twists and turns, and I loved the ending. Hoping there is more to come. I very much enjoyed this urban fantasy with a paranormal, alien twist!
Intraterrestrial by Nicholas Conley
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Bol.de
Intraterrestrial*
Complex Speculative Fiction that Surprises
Oh, my gosh, what a story! The author has such a vivid imagination and such a creative way of thinking to even be able to conceive of such a story! The book is very well written. All of the characters have unique voices, and the important ones have super unique character arcs. I love speculative fiction, but this one ratchets it up a notch or 100. After the accident that literally cracks open Adam’s world, the book actually follows two storylines, one about what’s happening with Adam and his intraterrestrial journey and the other about his parents as they cope with their own injuries and try to deal with Adam’s. Camille in particular is a complex and very well done character. She acts just like one would expect a mother to act in this situation, as one grappling with her son’s traumatic brain injury and his subsequent battle to remain alive, at times a crusader and at other times a woman who is grappling with too much. This can make her unlikable at times, and I think it is actually brave of the author to write the character this way. I don’t want to give too much away about Adam’s story arc, but it definitely is both an inner and outer journey for him. Brilliantly done all the way around. If you’re looking for a speculative fiction book is completely different from anything you’ve read, but still is very human, you should definitely check out this book.
The Second Fall by G. J. Ogden
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Second Fall*
Five Years Later
This is the second book of the Planetsider series, and oh, what a ride it is! First, I have to say I absolutely loved the author’s acknowledgment at the beginning of the book where he stated that it had taken him twenty years to write the first book of this series, stating that people shouldn’t give up if they want to write a novel and believe that they can’t. I hope his readers out there take it to heart. But now, about the story itself! This story is so full of action and drama, yet it also has lovely, small moments between the characters, many of whom we know from the first book. Ethan and Maria have both changed since the last book, and I enjoyed their interactions. I thought that the writer actually handled the “romance” aspect beautifully and in a very adult way that isn’t often seen in fiction. I like how the story could broach bigger themes in a way that isn’t preachy but was rather, instead, more quietly insightful and lets readers draw their own conclusions based on what is happening in the story. The action scenes are balanced well with the scenes that are more about the characters’ relationships. The author has a natural writing style that allows the reader to enter the book’s world quickly, even though the world itself is complex. A delightful space opera; I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Murder in Downfell Manor
Available at Amazon only
NOT with Kindle Unlimited
Murder in Downfell Manor*
Mystery with a Little Magical Chalk Dust
This book is certainly not what I expected it would be. From the blurb, I thought that it would take place at least in part at a magical academy where the female protagonist was failing out. But most of the blurb is actually backstory for what the real story is. While the book had magical elements and was grounded in a magical world, it is written in a straight-up fashion. It reads more like a traditional fugative mystery that just happens to have characters like mages and elves who are involved in the murder plot. The books have some issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, and this was a little distracting at times. I’m wondering on the national origin of the author because some of the words were definitely strange, and when I looked them up, and they seem to be of either South African or Australian etymology. I typically enjoy paranormal mysteries very much, but this seemed to be just a straight-up whodunit with magical chalk dust.
Eros Element by Cecilia Dominic
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Eros Element*
Fun Steampunk Romance
Oh, my gosh! What a fun book. This was my first foray into steampunk, though I had heard of the subgenre before. This particular author is able to convey her characters’ thoughts and words well, sometimes with gravity (when needed) and deliciously dry humor (most of the time). The characters are well drawn with very clear goals and motivations. There’s no gore or violence, and the plot did have some unexpected twists and turns. I think I especially appreciated the interactions between the characters. I loved the budding Romance. Just a delightful quasi-historical romantic read.
Betraying Her Vikings by Skye MacKinnon
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Bol.de
Betraying Her Vikings*
Too Abrupt End; Wanting More of Story
While this final installment wrapped up the serial neatly, I felt like the whole episode was too short and ended abruptly. I’ve read every installment of this serial, and honestly I feel like this story is just getting started… but instead, it’s the end! I’ve read a few reverse harem stories, and in most of them, the bulk of the book takes place after the group gets together. The combined serial story (all five episodes) just looks at how they all came together, with some very interesting parts in each episode to be sure, but still, it ends before we can see much of the group dynamic. I really wish there was more, as I really like Lainie and each of her men.
Aldo by Betty Jean Craig
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Scribd, Smashwords, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Aldo*
Terrorism and Genetic Research
This book has so much going on! It is steeped in academia and germ-line genetic research. The author herself is a longtime professor at a university, so her insights into academic life ring true. At its core, this story is about who controls scientific research and to what end. It’s told in a very different way. It starts off as if it is a letter from the professor protagonist to her teenage son, but we actually see many perspectives, including the interactions of the Night Watch Facebook group that wants to make all genetic research, like the protagonist is working on, go away. There is plenty of suspense to keep the pages turning, and there is a hint of romance for those who like that in a thriller. The author seemed to have a good grasp of the science involved in this story. The characters aren’t super complex, but I find that acceptable in a thriller. I did find the switching back and forth between the Facebook posts and communications of the Night Watch and the narrative parts to be a little jarring, but the book was compelling enough that I wanted to see what happened next. If you enjoy thrillers that are strongly based in science (and especially genetics), you may very well enjoy this intriguing tale.
Bound by Blood by Tiffany Shand
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Bound By Blood*
Too Much Action, Perhaps?
This book had a lot of action for sure. At times, I felt it was almost too much, as the world the author has created is a complex one, and too many action scenes were stacked one after the other—not giving the reader (or characters) much time to catch her breath. This can actually be a bit tiresome and make a book hard to read. The heroine is an intriguing one, given her past and the hard choices she has had to make, but I didn’t feel like I was quite able to get to know her as well as I would have liked because there was just so much going on. I thought the use of italics was confusing. Sometimes they were for direct thoughts and other times just for emphasis; sometimes directs thoughts were written just in regular type. This sometimes it made it hard to distinguish what an actual word, phrase, or sentence was truly meant to be I thought the secondary characters, her companions, added depth and more twists and turns to the story.
The Clan of the Woodlands: The Innocent by V. K. Ludwig
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
The Clan of the Woodlands: The Innocent*
I Love This Series
When I read the first book of this series, The Bastard, I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-written and complex world as well as characters I came to care about. I could tell by the hints given that there was much that I did not know about the world this author had created. So I was looking forward to this second book in the series, not only find out the protagonists’ story but to also get a deeper glimpse into this many-layered world.
The author has delivered another excellent story that gives a much wider window into the series’ world. In terms of character and story, this book flips the basics of the first story. Instead of having a woman go from the Districts to one of the clans, we have a clanswoman going to the Districts. At first, it seems like it’s almost meant to be a cultural exchange, for each side can learn more about the other; the Districts view clanspeople as almost feral and have believed and propagated lies about them for generations. In fact, in her very first moments in the Districts, Autumn faces prejudice against her people and their way of life time and time again in a way that even pierces her tough demeanor. However, Autumn is destined to become a part of much, much more.
As this is at its heart a romance, I would be remiss if I did not mention Max. Max is a scientist in the Districts, and he has discovered that male fertility in the Districts is dropping off at an alarming rate because of the special water they drink to control natural reproduction. In fact, the male population may be sterile in just a matter of years. He thinks he has a solution, creating a new version of the water that will knock out the genetic mutation that is harming male fertility while still tamping down attraction and desire (what the water is meant to do). His idea is shot down by a council member, but he determines to go ahead on his own and do a personal experiment—which could be of great detriment to his career if and when he is found out. His lab assistant figures out what he is doing and points out that he needs a control subject; she tells him that she believes the clanswoman could be the perfect one.
The book alternates between the perspectives of Autumn and Max. In Autumn’s sections, she shows herself to be of strong will and character, even if that is sorely tested by both her brother and her treatment in the Districts. Max is the perfect unreliable narrator; this is actually a hard thing to pull off, I think, so kudos to the author for doing a brilliant job at this. We don’t realize how unreliable he is until he meets Autumn. Their first meeting, oh, my gosh! Even though Ruth, his assistant, has warned him multiple times to be charming, it soon becomes apparent that he has absolutely no clue what that means. In fact, in their first scene together, Max reminds me of a bumbling Mr. Darcy. I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, and I always have loved the bit in the book (or movie) where he insults Elizabeth at the assembly, but he doesn’t do it directly to her face and perhaps doesn’t even really know that she could be listening. Max, on the other hand, insults Autumn repeatedly to her face with rude questions, and he truly has no clue that he is being so insulting. There was at least one point where I literally laughed out loud at his absolute imbecility and social ineptness in knowing how to talk to anybody, let alone a woman. He goes so far as to think that she’s spoiled because of her reaction to him, not that he’s a completely insensitive jerk!
The author did an excellent job showing how their initially fractious relationship evolved into one of attraction. It seemed to grow naturally, given their characters and circumstances. Just like in the first book, too, the author is able to weave in universal themes about prejudice, authority, power, the true meaning of love that is beyond physical, reproductive rights, and personal freedom into the story that seems organic; she has made the themes the lifeblood of the characters in this harsh world.
I really could go on and on about this book, as I genuinely did enjoy it. Instead, I will let what I’ve said above stand and describe the book’s story no more. Suffice to say that much lies in store for both Autumn and Max, which will take them places that they have no clue about when their stories start. The book did have some issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. I think the author needed to read this book out loud to herself or have Word do it for her so she could have caught many of the dropped or wrong words.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I feel this one ripped the roof off the greater social unrest that was only hinted at in the first book, and I am looking forward to the next story to see the shading that it can add to this complex world.
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