Tag Archives: Fantasy

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The Flame and the Arrow

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The Flame and the Arrow

(Annika Brisby #1)

by Emigh Cannaday

This was one of those books that had me torn as to how I felt and what I could say about it. It took me a month to get through the first 30 chapters, but the last 15 chapters finally got me and flew by. I guess I could have stopped reading but I knew that if I kept at it I would find that sweet spot. I like when I get information about the characters and their world but this was a bit of information overload. The world building itself is exceptional, I was there with them all the way. The language used was perfect for each of the characters and conveyed their thoughts and feelings well.

I had a hard time getting into this partly because the main female character did not seem to have any depth to her, she appeared to be simple and easy. The main male character was charismatic but not always likeable.

Annika Brisby is a sometime musician, and all the time waitress who has avoided real love all her life. When her current boyfriend proposes she gives him a resounding “No” but walks away with the huge diamond engagement ring. When he her Uncle asks her to go and cook for him and his crew she is happy to do it. While there she meets her destiny.

Talvi meets Annika in a bookstore in Sofia and cannot get her off his mind. After returning home to the dimension that parallels ours all he can do is hope to find that ‘saucy girl’ once again. Like Annika he has shunned love for the superficial. He has always known what waits for him at his 300th birthday but cannot believe it will happen as predicted.

When I finally decide I like the characters enough to read the next books it turns out that they are going to change. Annika was easily manipulated but it looked like she may have grown out of it, but the next books just find her betraying everything. The other characters who were honorable turn out to be way less than so. Give it a go if you like deep fantasy.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The mystical animal took a step back as if to leave, and Annika was overcome by a deep longing in her heart. “Please,” she gently begged. “Don’t go…Tell me something else. Tell me about why I’m here.” You are here because Fate invited you. You cannot go back the way you came. I suggest you go forward instead. With that, the mystical being walked back into the woods as silently as it had emerged.

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Darkfever

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Darkfever
(Fever #1)
by Karen Marie Moning

I have never read this author before though I had always intended to eventually. My friend wanted someone else to read it so she would have someone to talk about it with. Glad she insisted I listen sooner rather than later. I found myself drawn in right from the start and could not stop listening. The characters were all very well fleshed out and interesting, from the main characters to the peripheral characters along the way. I really enjoyed the story, it has a lot of elements that I have not seen in other stories featuring the Fae.

MacKayla ‘Mac’ Lane is a 22 year old bartender in a small Georgia town who does not have much ambition beyond capitalizing on her barbie doll looks and having a good time. When she gets a call saying that her older sister has been murdered in Ireland she finds that revenge takes precedence over everything else. Mac travels to Ireland with nothing more on her mind than forcing the police to reopen her sisters case and finding out who killed her and why. While she is doing that she starts to see things that cannot be real.

Jericho Barrons is the owner of a bookstore who meets Mac when she runs into his shop after getting lost on the way back to her Inn. Jericho is searching for the book that her sister mentioned in her message and advises Mac to leave Ireland immediately or end up like her sister. Barrons knows what Mac is but she does not have any idea what he is. He can be either a help or a danger, either way she needs him.

I liked the different types of Fae here because some I had never heard of from either court of faerie. Seelie or Unseelie, these are some killer Sidhe. I definitely recommend it!

My rating: 4.3 of 5 stars

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A Lost Witch

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A Lost Witch
(A Modern Witch #7)
by Debora Geary,
Martha Harmon Pardee (Narrator)

This is the last entry in the Modern Witch series and they go out on a somber but high note. The characters have continued to evolve and become more able to draw me into their world and their lives. The world is the same one I inhabit but seems more because of the magic that is so abundant. The story has moved forward effortlessly from day one and as they have added more characters things have continued to build toward a finale that might not be expected.

The fetching spell seems to have found another witch but it did not work the regular way. This witch has sent a simple message,’ help me’, and that is just what they intend to do. Lauren takes the lead here and finds their errant witch in a mental hospital. The first thing to do is verify that she is actually a witch.

Hannah has been a resident of Chrysalis House for the past 12 years, since she was admitted by her family at age fifteen. She has spells where she sees things that sometimes come true and other times do not, but they always wreck havoc with her mind. When she is offered the chance at a normal life she is willing to do anything.

This was the perfect ending for a sweet series.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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A Kiss of Shadows

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a kiss of shadowsA Kiss of Shadows

(Merry Gentry #1)
by Laurell K. Hamilton

 

This was my second reading of this book and I am going to go back and read all those that came after. I loved it the first time and this time was just more of the same. The characters are all so individualized that you have something/someone new when they are introduced. The story is outside the norm which makes it perfect the genre that it is being written for. The style and language flow effortlessly off the page keeping you turning, wanting to take in just a little more even when you know you should stop.

Merry Gentry is much more than she has told her boss at the Grey Detective agency. He believes her to be just a human with fey in her ancestry, what he does not know is she is a Princess of faerie a hiding out with him. Meredith Nic Essus has been away from her home for three years because of attempts on her life after the death of her father. She is not a pure fey and that rankles her aunt, the Queen, who allows the attempts on a royal. But things have changed at home and they want her back home. But what exactly do they have planned for her now that she no longer has a death sentence hanging over her head? Merry is homesick enough to go find out.

This is a very nice beginning to a series that is urban fantasy with a bite. It can be very hot in some places but nothing to out there. I think it would be liked by a lot of people. If you have read the Anita Blake series then this one could become another favorite.

 

 

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Men don’t settle down because of the right woman. They settle down because they are finally ready for it. Whatever woman they’re dating when they get ready is the one they settle down with, not necessarily the best one or the prettiest, just the one who happened to be on hand when the time got to be right. Unromantic, but still true.”
― Laurell K. Hamilton, A Kiss of Shadows

 

 

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Lichgates

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lichgates  Lichgates (The Grimoire Saga #1)
by S.M. Boyce

It took me a while to get into the story, it was dragging just a bit as it was in the midst of introducing the main character. As the characters started to take on more dimension the story picked up momentum as well. The story flows perfectly and makes sense as you learn the history of the people and the place they live in.

Kara Magari is a college student who has lost her mother and while out hiking in an area she thought she knew comes across a gazebo that looks into another world. Because she wants to forget her sorrows she continues into and through that gazebo with the words Lichgate written on it. What she finds on the other side is a world nothing like her own and a new destiny that could kill her if she is not careful.

Braeden Drakonin is Prince and heir to the Stele, an evil kingdom that prefers torture to diplomacy. He ran away from what was expected of him and is trying to be a good man. His destiny becomes entwined with the girl from another world who may be able to save them all. He has looked for the Grimoire for twelve years and it falls into the hands of an outsider, but he can still stay close to it.

If you like fantasy similar to that of The Lord of the Rings or Eragon then this will likely be for you. Even if it’s not a favorite genre you will still enjoy it for the story itself.

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

 

 

 

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Malice In Wonderland

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Malice In Wonderland (Dulcie O’Neil #5)

Overall I liked the story. There were just some things that I did not particularly agree with. For one thing our main girl does not seem to have really grown in all this time, she wants things to be all cut and died when they are not. I expected quite a bit more action from this book as well since the last one ended on such a dramatic note and it was kind of humdrum with no real action and a lot of obvious plot twists, at least to me. It’s worth the read but don’t expect much.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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No review- End of April 2017

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Assassin's LamentDT fall of gilead1ghoul's night out

 

Assassin’s Lament gets 3 of 5 stars. This moved a little slow for me and so I had a hard time getting into it. I do love the author however because he writes with passion.

 

Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead #1 gets 4 of 5 stars. I loved all the books and this gives you a chance to see behind the curtain to what was going on that we did not get to see originally.

 

Ghouls Night Out gets 4 of 5 stars. This is book two of the series and it is a nice addition but pretty much the same type of thing that happened in the first with the addition of another male. Rose Pressey writes some sweet and sentimental books with fun characters and plenty of humor.

Nothing says romance like taking your date with you to exorcise a house. Candlelit dinners, flowers, and demons…yes, going to a movie and dinner was far too normal for me. I had to be different. No wonder I hardly ever had a date. Ghouls Night Out

 

 

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Angry Lead Skies

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9723006

Angry Lead Skies (Garrett Files #10)

This is one of the really good ones as far as Garrett and his adventures are concerned. I always like that he has something different going on that takes place in his fictional land. The story moves pretty quickly and we get to see how he acts with women other than those he always has around. The characters are fairly well defined and fleshed out.

Garrett is awakened from a deep sleep by Playmate who comes to him and asks that he help protect an obnoxious kid named Kip Prose who is being threatened by creatures who are hard to describe. Kip is a teenager who was befriended by two strange guys who have been giving him ideas for inventions that could make someone a lot of money. Opening his door when a woman is not knocking does not ever work out for him, but neither does it when they do.

Enjoy this adventure and watch Garrett try to please everyone and still get paid.

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
“The Dead Man once told me that monsters aren’t born, they’re made. That they are memorials which take years of cruelty to sculpt. And that while we should weep for the tortured child who served as raw material, we should permit no sentiment to impede us while we rid the world of the terror strewn by the finished work. It took me a while to figure out what he meant but I do understand him now.”
― Glen Cook, Angry Lead Skies
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A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

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18777598

A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

I am a major fan of the Charles Dickens story and read it and watch every film version I can find each Christmas. This was a perfect retelling with a vampire to rival Scrooge as a bad guy. This was a different type of vampire as well since they would not be considered technically dead, even though they are dead. This follows the original story very closely with the visitation by three guides, in this case a demon, an angel and a panther shifter. They appear for more or less the same reasons that Scrooge was visited by his spirits, in order to make him a better man and save him from himself.

Ben Prescott was an ordinary man until the Christmas Eve he was attacked and turned into what he considered a monster, he became a vampire, and he took the perception of evil to heart. His entire life was altered and he fell into a dark place because of the losses in his life and told himself that the things he did were justified. When he was about to make a mistake that could send him to the underworld for eternity ,Fate in the form of someone who cared, stepped in to give him a second chance at life by giving him a glimpse of what his future could hold if he does not change course.

There was a nice little twist to the story which may or may not be expected but I didn’t see that particular one coming. There is a Marley to start him on his journey, though not Jacob. This is a great addition to the holiday season for lovers of the paranormal.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
She flew back to the little town of Desolate. Headed into the town’s only bar. William and Jamison were already inside, waiting for her. William glanced up at her approach. His lips quirked. “A demon, a shifter, and an angel walk into a bar…” “And all hell breaks loose,” Jamison finished with a laugh.
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Silver Bells

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13007259

Silver Bells

This was a sweet story with an interesting take on Santa and who and what his reindeer are. It was hard for me to get into the story which was not very short. The character were just dropped in without any real introduction as to who they were. It was hard to have any feeling for either of the characters even though you knew you should because this was going to be a sentimental tale. Once you get past the rather lackluster beginning the story moves a lot more quickly.

Dash Bartholomew lives and works on the south side of Howle, a less than desirable area. He keeps the carousel animals looking good for the summer season through the winter. He has a harness with silver bells attached that he can no longer hear. Merry is a homeless woman who ducks into the barn he works in to get out of the cold and wind. She is a proud woman who will not accept charity but is willing to work and help Dash with the animals. She can hear the bells and finds the sound sweet and comforting because she heard similar ones when she was a child. These two people have more in common than they know.

There were a lot of short cuts taken, I have no idea when they were supposed to have fallen in love because there was nothing to indicate it had happened. Like I said, a sweet story but not very filling.

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars