Reading Fanatic Reviews
ParanormalBulwark by Brit Lunden
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Bulwark*
Creepy Tale Defies Categorization
The fictional town of Bulwark, Georgia, is a town of secrets and mysteries. When this book opens, sheriff Clay is investigating a strange, large puggle that has a car trapped inside it. Soon, we meet other residents of the town, as well as injured newcomers who claim their children were stolen by a witch who lives in a gingerbread house on a street that Clay has never heard of. Taking the couple to the ED, Clay meets his estranged wife, Jenna, who is a nurse there; they are divorcing due to struggling with the disappearance of their daughter but haven’t signed the papers yet to make it official.
What’s going on in this small town? What other strange things will the sheriff find? Who will die? Who is in danger? What will happen with Clay and Jenna?
To me, this book has an almost Twilight Zone or Twin Peaks feel to it. If you decide to read this book, you can choose to go into it knowing that little will make sense for quite a while. If you can let go and allow that to happen, you might enjoy the ride because this book does take you to strange places.
On the book review site where I downloaded the ARC for this book, it was listed as a cozy mystery, a paranormal romance, and a small-town romance. The cover says paranormal thriller. I can see where the author would have a hard time pinning down the specific genre or genres of this book. I would say there are paranormal aspects, romantic aspect, but I wouldn’t call it a paranormal romance as that suggests to me that, say, a witch and/or shifter love story is happening. That’s not what happens here. The book is super slow burn until you get to the end, so I wouldn’t quite call it a thriller either. There’s definitely an element of the gothic here as well with the creepy, hidden mansion. It’s definitely not a cozy as it is far too dark for that. Although it takes place in a small town, I wouldn’t call it a “small-town romance” either. Maybe call it paranormal suspense with romantic aspects, but even that might not be wholly accurate as the paranormal elements weren’t clear until later in the book.
I am a registered nurse and have worked night shift in the hospital. There are definitely some medical and nursing errors in the book, but they most likely would not disturb anyone who is not a medical or nursing professional.
In a fun twist, the book has two alternate endings for the reader to enjoy and choose from.
Deacon by M. J. Perry
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Deacon*
More Troubles with the Vampires
At the start of the book, Deacon learns that the rogue vampires have taken Milly. He is able to rescue her, and he takes her back the alpha’s home. He tells her more about his background of being turned in a partial vampire after having survived a vampire bite; his wolf hasn’t been able to shift since. He had pushed her away earlier in order to protect her, but they both know that they are mated and meant to be together.
Have they subdued the rogue band of vampires? Will Deacon and Milly consummate their bond? What other dangers lie in store for them and the rest of the pack?
I found this book a little hard to read at times, even though the relationship between Deacon and Milly was fascinating to read, because there were formatting, punctuation, and grammar issues. In particular, the author seems to like to write the narrative passages in one long paragraph whenever they occur, not breaking them into smaller paragraphs for easier reading. One such paragraph was four pages long on my Kindle, and I don’t use large type. Commas are often problematic in indie published work, and this book had issues with commas missing between independent clauses in compound sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction as well as others. Some quote marks were inappropriately placed. The plural *vampires* was misspelled once as vampire’s. The dialogue, too, didn’t seem natural, not the way people actually speak. There wasn’t enough distinction between each character’s dialogue as well; everyone seemed to talk like each other.
Beyond the Shadows by Dixie Carlton
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Beyond the Shadows*
A Unique Long-Distance Relationship
We meet Penny and Erik as they are about to embark on a unique long-distance relationship. Reminiscent of Same Time, Next Year, they plan to meet at a different location on the globe every six months while they maintain their relationship electronically in between. Penny is an Australian single mom of adult children while Erik is a forty-something-year-old who lives in Amsterdam. They initially met at a Las Vegas convention and shared an attraction, making them both want to keep in contact long distance. After 18 months of just digital communication and an occasional phone call, they decide to meet physically twice a year. During their first time together in Italy, Erik questions whether he wants to take the relationship further physically, as he has some fear of losing her as a friend.
All of this is complicated by Helena, a past former lover of Erik’s. She is the jealous sort and doesn’t appreciate him getting involved with another woman, and she is able to cause problems.
The book goes back and forth between their visits as well as the times they are at their homes. I would have liked to have seen a bit more balance in the amount of time the author spent at each of their worldwide destinations. A great deal of time was spent in Italy and England, but Fiji was only touched on briefly. Fiction is such a fun way to experience the world, and it would have been more fun to spend a longer time globe-hopping with this couple.
As in other books I’ve read by this author, there are significant issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, though some of that may stem from her being Australian and me being an American copyeditor; I am not too sure of Australian rules for such. It was, however, a little distracting at times, though it didn’t diminish my overall enjoyment of the novel.
The book is definitely a steamy read, as they do decide to become lovers. The book has a paranormal twist that I didn’t see coming in a work that is otherwise fully grounded in this world. It is nice to be surprised when reading, though, as it doesn’t happen often, especially in romance.
This book is a very unique take on one way to approach long-distance relationships. If you enjoy steamy reads about more mature characters and don’t mind a little bit of the paranormal, you might find this to be a page-turner.
Soulshift by Laura Greenwood
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Soulshift*
Soul Swapping from Arya’s Perspective
In this book, we get to see Arya’s and Tate’s soul swapping through Arya’s eyes. Arya is a vampire who has never like blood. Something always felt off to her about being a vampire and about her relationship with Sian, even though she loves her. When the soul swapping starts, Arya thinks it’s just a dream, but soon she realizes it’s real. At first, she feels like she is betraying Sian, but her relationship with Devon is giving her more of what she needs but never got with vampire lover.
Will the soul swapping continue? Will they be able to control it? Will Arya continue to fall for Devon? What’s going on with Tate and Sian? (Of course, the answer to that last one is in Soulswap!)
I’ve read all the books in this series, and I loved seeing Arya’s and Devon’s relationship from her perspective. She’s quite different from Tate. Honestly, Devon should have realized that, even though the body looked the same, the woman inside was quite distinct from what he knew before. Arya’s and Devon’s love story is sweet to follow, even though Devon has a hard time adjusting once he finally is told what is truly going on. I love that Arya/Tate could now experience life in dragon form, which Tate has never been able to do. The author did an excellent job lining up events in the two books of this trilogy that were concurrent, this one from Arya’s perspective and Soulswap from Tate’s perspective.
There were a few issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, but that didn’t detract from the story.
Protectors of Poison: Scorpio by Laura Greenwood
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Protectors of Poison: Scorpio*
Ancient Egyptian Deities . . . and a Poisoned Osiris
The Egyptian goddess Serket is alive in modern times (known as Sera) and working as a veterinary technician. Known for her healing, Serket’s powers are on the wane because Egyptian gods and goddesses are largely forgotten. Sed, a jackal god, appears to her as a wounded jackal, and she rescues him, not knowing of his divine state. Soon, he lets her know and also asks her if she is involved in the poisoning of Osiris, as the venom appears to have come from one of her scorpions. She is not involved in this, of course, so they join forces to try to figure out what exactly is going on.
Will they figure out the source of this poisoning? Will they be able to save Osiris? Will Serket regain any of her power?
What an interesting, quick read. We don’t often see ancient Egyptian mythology in paranormal stories. Sed and Serket are ones I haven’t heard of before, so it was fun to see them in action and learn a little bit about them and their myths. Even though this book was short, the author had good pacing and characterization. I’ll be interested in reading more of this.
Spring’s Dragons: Withered Rose by Eva Brandt
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Spring's Dragons: Withered Rose*
Complexities in The Realm of Eternal Youth . . . and Beyond
In this first book of the Spring’s Vampire portion of the newly renamed Soulmates of the Seasons series, we first meet Queen Eiar—Eranthe (private name), Lady of Spring, and ruler of The Realm of Eternal Youth. This is a land that has unicorns and leprechauns; there is a dreamlike quality to Eranthe’s descriptions. Vampires are forbidden in the Land of Time, which encompasses all the realms of the seasons, because of some past wrong actions by their predecessors. So the queen is surprised to find three show up in her realm. What are there vampires doing there? What are their plans?
This queen comes across as more naïve than her sister Cassia, though—I have to say—the kitten does have some claws. She lives in a charmed world very different from The Realm of Eternal Ice. As in the Winter’s Dragons portion of this series, this book is narrated by both the queen and the men. Eranthe’s sections have a childlike quality to them, which is very different from Cassia’s in the earlier part of the series. The vampires come across much more forcefully and aren’t quite as distinct as I would have hoped. The dragon shifters in the Winter’s Dragons books definitely each had their own voice. We get to meet the queens’ mother for the first time in this book.
Even though I read all previous books in the series, I found this book to be confusing. There are lots of names of places and worlds (and most places and important people have two names), and these don’t use variants of common English spellings; they are unusual names, so they can be a little hard to wrap your mind around. There also seems to be a complicated history between these different worlds that isn’t fully spelled out, so you have a lot to keep straight in your head as you reading this. An added complexity is that many of the magical beings in this book actually come from the myths of different cultures, some of which are familiar and some of which are not. It’s a little taxing to keep track of and detracts from the enjoyment of the story. The author does have a small guide to the realms in the back of the book, listing the queens and the other essential characters and beings in each realm.
I enjoyed the Winter’s Dragon’s portion of the series more than I enjoyed this installment of the new next part of the series. I will still check out the next book and hope that I will get and keep my bearings better in it than I did in this one.
Wolf Blessed by Laura Greenwood
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Wolf Blessed*
Fae Princess in Post-Apocalyptic World
Wolf Blessed follows the adventures of a fae princess who ran away from the fae realm only to wind up in a post-apocalyptic world where the fae are blamed for the disaster! A wolf shifter honor guard sent by her mother, the queen, finally tracked her down, but Rhianna does not want their help. Soon, she’s captured by people who believe that having a full-blood Fae like her will help them restore balance and order to the world. Her wolf honor guard retrieves her a few weeks later, but they find something else dark and mysterious going on where she was held.
Will Rhianna stay with her wolves this time and let them protect her? Does the fae have something to do with causing the apocalypse? Will Rhianna and the wolves get back to the fae realm? What strange experiment are the bad guys doing with the witches?
Goodness, this book had a lot going on in it! It’s a relatively short book, so with so much going on, there wasn’t as much space as I would have liked for characterization. I liked the wolf honor guard; they were all that that name suggests. I would have loved to have seen her have more time with the wolves.
If you like fast-paced shifter novels and don’t mind that there’s not much characterization, you might enjoy this relatively quick read.
Easter with Her Bunny by Josie Walker
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Easter with Her Bunny*
Rabbit Shifter Romance? LOL!
Hard-driving Latina marketing whiz Lily is taking time off to participate in her friend’s wedding in Scotland. As the wedding party mingles before the big day, she has an instant attraction to the tall, dark, and handsome best man. She’s not interested in a man, marriage, or a family; it’s all about the career for her. Harry, the best man, feels this instant attraction as well, and because he is a shifter, her pheromones are telling his inner animal that she is interested even though she is denying it.
Will Lilly take a chance on Harry? Will she be surprised that he’s a shifter? How will she react to his sister animal?
Oh, my gosh! What a hilarious book! If you’ve read shifter romance before, you are familiar with the sometimes very serious tropes that are common to the genre. This book is a total send-up of the shifter romance. I might go so far as to say it’s a parody of it, which makes the reading a lot of fun. So long as you don’t go into it thinking that it’s a serious shifter romance and you have a good sense of humor, you will appreciate the funny moments that keep coming in this book. Even the way that they describe each other seems to be lampooning the overblown way in which heroes and heroines in romance describe each other. One of the first bits of parody happens when we learn what Harry’s shifter animal is. He’s a bunny shifter! He’s a little envious of the polar bear and unicorn shifters that he knows. LOL!
I don’t want to give too much away because this book is just fun and funny to read. If you got a sense of humor about shifter romance oh, you will love this send-up of the genre.
Studying Her Vikings by Skye MacKinnon
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Studying Her Vikings*
First Days at Time Travel School
We meet Lainie as she says goodbye to her mother for the last time. Now accepted into the Time Travel Academy, she can have no contact with her mother from this point on. Transported away, she only feels slight effects from the journey, and so her education is fast-tracked because that means she will most likely be able to travel back further in time without ill effect. In this episode of the serial, Lainie goes deep into learning about Vikings and runology from a hunky professor.
What a fun concept to serialize a book like this! The author intends to put out an episode every two weeks until it’s complete. This harkens back to the days in the 1840s and 1850s when novels by people like Gaskell and Dickens were serialized in magazines. The concept completely works in the modern day, where we can just grab a little piece of a story—say over lunch or waiting at the doctor’s office—and whet our appetite for the next installment.
At the beginning of this episode, the author discusses that she herself has been studying Old Norse and runology as a part of her master’s degree. This made me wonder if some of what Lainie is learning is what the author has been learning in her own classes. She gives us a nice set of resources at the end if we want to learn more about Old Norse, Vikings, and runology.
Looking forward to the next installment!
Tonic Chords by Mary Kit Caelsto
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Tonic Chords*
More Magic and Music
I was intrigued by a book that combined music and magic; I don’t think I’ve seen that before. This is the second book in the series, and Tory wants to teach Alamar saxophone since she accidentally wiped his mind of knowing how to play it. She is introduced to more and more magical elements in this world as she immerses herself in the knowledge of Musimagia. Magical attacks increase.
Will Tory become better at following the rules of Musimagia? Will Alamar regain his ability to play the saxophone? Why are magical attacks increasing?
The book is written in the first-person past. One of the dangers of this point of view is that the author can stay too much in the narrator’s head, which translates into a lot of narrative prose and exposition. Unfortunately, that was the case in this book. This book has a fresh concept that would have come more to life if there had been more dialogue and action and not so much thought.
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