Reading Fanatic Reviews
Romantic FantasyYour Rebel Plans by Tikiri Herath
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
Your Rebel Plans*
Part Two of Living Your Best Life
I was lucky enough to have reviewed the first book of this three book series, Your Rebel Dreams, which I loved for how it gets you focused on your values and vision. The author continues the Rebel Diva series with another exceptional book to help you figure out how to bring your dreams into fruition with goals and a solid plan. As in the other book, the author is teacher and cheerleader. She gives solid guidelines to help you figure out your goals and action plans, and she truly comes across as someone who cares whether or not you’re able to do what this book lays out.
The book is structured thus: a long introductory section on a variety of topics meant to get you ready for the process, the core of the book split into weeks with concrete goals for each week, and a wrap-up section. The first portion is meant to knock down barriers and build confidence through structured exercises. The weekly part that follows is broken down into making smart goals, making an action plan to achieve those goals, checking in to see how you are doing, and how to get it done. At the end of each week, there is a little check-in section to see how you’re feeling about the process. The final section is something I think has great power even though it is short. I love the ideas of making a pledge to yourself and having long-term check-ins and reevaluations.
The author is so supportive that I think this series is worthwhile for any woman who wants to coalesce what her dreams are and bring them to fruition so she can have the life that she wants. It is a beautiful process that has been outlined by a caring person who has clearly walked the talk. She adds fantastic freebies that enhance the book, like a printable PDF that you can use as you follow along as well as a free book about busting your fears. The author means to empower women to live openly and joyously aligned with their values, and I think she has created a series that can do just that.
Learning to Fall by Jillian Eaton
Available at Amazon only
NOT with Kindle Unlimited
Learning to Fall*
Good Story But Needs Line Editing
Imogen is having her first day teaching English at a college in small-town Maine when we first meet her. She meets the hero, Daniel, sometime later when she and her friend are celebrating at a bar. Neither makes the best first impression, but as it’s a small town, they are bound to run into each other again.
I liked Imogen’s character. Even though she’s super smart, she has insecurities about herself as a teacher and as a woman. If you’re looking for a fast-burn romance, this one isn’t it. It’s slow burn, like romance often is in real life, as people get to know each other, have insecurities, and hold back some part of themselves out of fear. Frankly, I don’t mind this kind of romance if I understand the type of story that I’m getting into. I can sit back and simply enjoy the slow ride and the gradual unfolding of character and plot.
This book is supposed to be a revised edition, and I would be curious to know what the author actually changed. I know this book has gotten some very low star ratings. I’m wondering if she just had some proofreading done or if she added to the book. There were complaints about grammar, punctuation, and usage in the one-star reviews. I would say the book still has some issues with these, but not as many as I was led to believe from the bad reviews. I am a copy editor myself, and what I think this book actually needs is a solid line edit, where someone goes in and reworks the sentences and paragraphs to improve the flow. Especially at the beginning of the book, the author seemed to overly rely on dashes, making interrupters where there didn’t really need to be any if the sentence was just structured differently. There are lots of phrases as well as single-sentence or single-phrase paragraphs which I think makes for choppy writing (which makes for disjointed reading) and creates a barrier for the reader. Or at least for me. I also thought that the author had too many false subjects (“there” sentences) and personal passive expressions (“it” expressions where the “it” doesn’t refer to a specific noun), both of which weaken prose.
Aside from the still existing issues with language, I enjoyed this sweet and sometimes poignant real love story between two people in much need of that.
Burned by J. K. Harper
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Burned*
Dragon Shifter Beauty and the Beast
I’ll admit that I love stories that are new takes on classic tales, so I was intrigued by this dragon-shifter adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. We meet the heroine, Teagan, as she’s bumbling her way through a swordplay class. She meets the hero, Ash, in the parking lot when she mistakenly thinks that he might be ready to attack her. Even though she only has a practice sword, she approaches him like a fiery warrior goddess protecting herself. Ash calms her down, and they start to have an interesting discussion, but when the wind blows his hood from his face, she sees his scars. She gasps, and he thinks that she’s just another one who can’t or won’t be able to see past his physical deformity.
What a delightful reimagining of Beauty and the Beast! Both Teagan and Ash have wounds, some interior and some exterior. I love how both of them were able to see past the physical right away. Poor Teagan has such self-esteem issues that she couldn’t see her unusual features as anything but ugly, but Ash could only see beauty. Teagan is smart, nerdy, and a little bit clumsy… and really quite endearing in her awkwardness, both verbal and physical. How can you not love a character who is so enamored with Queen Boadicea and ancient Ireland? And Ash, he truly believes himself to be unlovable, and I adored how the author had him wrestle with his inner dragon when confronted with this woman who could mean so much to them both.
If you enjoy retellings of classic stories with lots of heartfelt emotion and realistic, wounded characters, you might find this book a compelling, sweet (but steamy) read.
Thrilled by J. K. Harper
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Thrilled*
Rollicking Good Writing Style
We first meet Gabi, intrepid undersea explorer, who has found a wreck that promises to be a treasure find. Kai is a water dragon shifter who has been cursed by his dying mate: he’s not been able to touch their combined hoard until he finds true love again. Is this what Gabi has found? How can she see it and him, when she shouldn’t be able to do either?
The author’s writing style is delightful and easy to read. She has made two such clearly defined characters that their thoughts and actions leap off the page as being authentic. Gabi is full of life, exuberant, and dedicated to her job and her grandmother. At times, the book feels light and airy, while at other times we can understand and feel the pressures that both Gabi and Kai live under. There are humor and good banter, which I always love in any sort of romance.
This book is a part of a series, but it could be appreciated as a standalone. If you enjoy shifter romance with a strong heroine, a little steam, humor, and heart, you might find this a satisfying read.
The Shadow Reigns by K. S. Marsden
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
The Shadow Reigns*
Recovery and Retribution
Hunter is recovering in the days after the conflagration that ended the last book. He’s made his manor house a place where the MMC and the military can gather as they figure out their next move against the Shadow Witch.
I thought that that first part moved a bit slowly. It would seem to me that the MMC and the military would want to be more proactive in going after the Shadow Witch. I think it might have been interesting to have some chapters that were based in Sophie’s world. She was such a great character in the previous book that only grew more intriguing. Alternating between Hunter’s world and Sophie’s world could have been a great point-counterpoint that could have sharpened the tension and the conflict in the book. The book does have some surprises; we do lose at least one person who we’ve come to respect as a character.
While this book has slightly improved from the last, this book has a fair number of issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. And I’m not talking about British English vs. American English. There are more than a few comma splices as well as other places where commas are not used correctly. Capitalization seems to be inconsistent in places.
This is definitely not a stand-alone book. The series should be read in sequence if you are interested in it. While this installment is a little slow, if you enjoyed the world that was set up in the previous book, you’re most likely be interested to see where it goes next. After this one, I’m definitely wanting to see what will be happening in book three.
Blaize and the Maven by Ellen Bard
Available at Amazon only
NOT with Kindle Unlimited
Blaize and the Maven*
Chakras Bedrock of This Magical World
We meet Blaize, the heroine of the story, as she is undergoing trials after five years as an Adherent training to use her primary chakra, the navel, which signifies fire. The trials are grueling and have the potential to kill the person being tested. We meet Cuinn as he is being asked to take on a new Adherent. He is a Maven, one who is well skilled in using the power of their two chakras, the dominant and the auxiliary. He doesn’t want to take one on for a variety of reasons, the main one being that he has a lot going on with a dire prophecy that he is accessing during his dream walking. Blaize passes her test, and she does become Cuinn’s new Adherent.
I’ve actually studied chakras for a long time, so I found the bedrock idea of this book to be a fascinating one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the chakra system used in such a way as the basis for a magical world. The author has clearly given this much thought, as the concepts are sophisticated but accessible. I wouldn’t say you need to know about chakras to appreciate this book, but if you do, you will find the way the author plays with them to add to your enjoyment of reading it.
This book is about the prophecy mentioned above, which is slowly being revealed, as well as the initially slow burn romance between Blaize and Cuinn. The prophecy does take away some of the conflict and tension in the book because it gives us such a glimpse of what’s going to happen, even if we don’t know all the details or what they’ll be able to do to counteract what has been foreseen. But there’s still enough going on to keep your interest. I thought the relationship between Blaize and Cuinn wasn’t quite as natural and organic as I like in stories with an element of romance. He was so dead set against having an Adherent, yet almost as soon as he meets her, this shifts quickly. Blaize can be unlikable, impetuous, proud, and sometimes a little rude, so it doesn’t quite seem that this person who has lived for so long would have an attraction so quickly to such a relatively immature young woman.
Weighing up the pluses and minuses of this book, I find that I like the chakra background so much that it outweighs what I might not like about it. So, if you like books about magical worlds—and perhaps an especially interesting one in that isn’t about witches and warlocks—you might find this a fascinating read.
Relic Hunter by Melinda Kucsera
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Relic Hunter*
Relic Hunters and a Young Mage
This book follows two separate plotlines that interact. In one, relic hunters are trying to find a dangerous relic. In the other, a young mage faces of a variety of dangers that put both his and his younger brother’s lives in danger.
The novel is written with a fair amount of humor, especially between the Knight-Questor Zoya and her cousin Yan, who is helping her find the relic. Sarn, the young mage, has a gravitas that one doesn’t expect to find in a young teenage character. He is genuinely concerned about his little brother, Miren, and his love and care for the 7-year-old come right off the page. This series is related to another of the author’s, Curse Breaker. I wasn’t aware of this when I chose the book from the book review site. At that site, the book blurb stated that this was the start of a new series. I wouldn’t call that entirely accurate; at Amazon, the subtitle says that it is book 6 of the Curse Breaker series, and the inside of the book calls it also the Divergent Heroes series (with two more books scheduled). This book is certainly part of the greater world of the Curse Breaker series. The author states in the front that this book can be read as a standalone. As someone who hasn’t read the other series, I can say that this book is a little confusing, like I was missing key information about the world of the book that would have made reading this one a little easier.
The book seemed to have more than the average number of issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. As is often typical in books, commas were problematic and not just in the usual ways. Commas weren’t correctly used on both sides of an interrupter or when needed to clarify meaning at times.
This book had one of the oddest beginnings that I have ever seen. After the standard table of contents and general information about the author’s other series (and the like), there was this strange—I’m not even sure what to call it—prologue/marketing pitch. It is supposedly written by a character from the Curse Breaker series named Ran, who is the son of Sarn, the boy mage in this particular story. In this multiple page section, Ran describes the author of the book as his father’s Scribe, enters a portal into this book’s world, and interacts briefly with some characters in it as well as a few others. If this is the setup of the book, I see one giant plot hole: How can Sarn tell the Scribe what happened in the relic hunter storyline. As to the marketing pitch, books in the Curse Breakers series are mentioned with links as is the author’s newsletter. Frankly, it was rather bizarre and off-putting. In fact, if I hadn’t given my word to review it, I might have stopped right there.
If you are familiar with the other series of in this world, you will probably find it to be an interesting one that tells you some of Sarn’s boyhood. If you aren’t familiar with this world, you might find this book confusing, but the humor and characters are fun to read about once you get past that first bizarre prologue/marketing pitch.
Oopsy Daisy by Lucy May
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Oopsy Daisy*
Daisies Galore!
In this installment of the Charm Cove mystery series, daisies are literally falling from the sky. First it is just a little, but daisy dumps from the heavens just keep happening. They soon overrun the town, and these flowers don’t seem to die or wilt. Magical people in the town attempt to stem the daily tide, but it only gets worse. The daisies start to change color, and soon they are acting like aggressive vines that can even take over a house. What are the residents of Charm Cove to do?
If you’ve enjoyed previous installments of the Charm Cove mystery series, you will most likely enjoy this light and fanciful tale about the town being overrun by, of all things, daisies. Even if you haven’t read other books in the series, the author does a good job as at peppering in a little background about the town and the characters here and there as you need to know. Refreshingly, she doesn’t do an information dump, as often happens in later volumes in a series. The town is full of quirky characters, like a good cozy. So far, all the books I’ve read in this series are wicked good paranormal cozy mysteries—pun intended!
Finding Her Vikings by Skye MacKinnon
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson
Finding Her Vikings*
A Little Sleuthing, a Little Time Travel…and a Big Twist
In this episode, Lainie meets the archivist. He’s not super friendly, but he asks for her help to find the thief who took a Viking ring. In exchange, he’ll help her figure out some special tips and tricks with time travel that other have to experiment to find out. She is surprised at who the thief is and why the ring was taken. Her hunky teacher is planning to take her back to his time so she can experience a little of Viking culture. What happens on this first time travel for Lainie is both a huge plot twist and a cliffhanger. This episode also gets a little steamy. I found this to be a delightful, quick, short read. I’m definitely curious what’s going to be happening next.
Snowflakes in Summer by Elizabeth Preston
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Snowflakes in Summer*
Not the Best Example of Highlander Time Travel Romance
In general, I’m a fan of Highland romance and time travel romance, which is what inspired me to choose this book. However, I didn’t find this particular spin on those two subgenres to be particularly appealing. I felt like I could understand Caitlin more before she was whisked away on her adventure to medieval Scotland. Some scenes seemed to be taken right out of Outlander, like Caitlin tending to a man’s wounds. The romance fell flat for me, probably because they fell into a sexual relationship very fast. The alternative viewpoints between Caitlin and Bern revealed him to be relatively simple minded and two dimensional. Just because someone is from medieval times doesn’t mean that they’re incapable of complexity, especially for a laird who is involved in difficult power struggles.
I found the language to be stilted in many places; the book didn’t read naturally for me. At times, it felt like to me that the author was trying to mimic Jamie’s speech patterns from Outlander for Burn. The author made some strange word choices, and for one in particular, I wondered if it was truly a word that a Scot would have said back then. The numerous sex scenes were often written in ways that made me cringe at the words chosen. There are many issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage. Commas seem to be particularly problematic.
With the popularity of Outlander, time travel Highlander romance has become a trendy subgenre of romance. There are some good ones out there, but this did not impress me as one of them.
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