Category: Book Reviews

Release Blitz and Giveaway for Lost In Time by A.L. Lester

 

Buy Links: JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK


Cover Design: JM Snyder


Publisher: JMS Books


Length: 54,000 words approx.


The Gate (a FREE short story introducing the characters from Lost In Time) 
Amazon US | Amazon US | JMS Books


Blurb

Lew’s life is pleasantly boring until his friend Mira messes with magic she doesn’t understand. While searching for her, he is pulled back in time to 1919 by a catastrophic magical accident. As he tries to navigate a strange time and find his friend in the smoky music clubs of Soho, the last thing he needs is Detective Alec Carter suspecting him of murder.


London in 1919 is cold, wet, and tired from four years of war. Alec is back in the Metropolitan Police after slogging out his army service on the Western Front. Falling for a suspect in a gruesome murder case is not on his agenda, however attractive he finds the other man.


They are both floundering and out of their depth, struggling to come to terms with feelings they didn’t ask for and didn’t expect. Both have secrets that could get them arrested or killed. In the middle of a murder investigation that involves wild magic, mysterious creatures, and illegal sexual desire, who is safe to trust?






Author Bio

A. L. Lester likes to read. Her favorite books are post-apocalyptic dystopian romances full of suspense, but a cornflake packet will do there’s nothing else available. The gender of the characters she likes to read (and write) is pretty irrelevant so long as they are strong, interesting people on a journey of some kind.


She has a chaotic family life and small children, and she has become the person in the village who looks after the random animals people find in the road. She is interested in permaculture gardening and anything to do with books, reading, technology and history. She lives in a small village in rural Somerset and is seriously allergic to both rabbits and Minecraft.



Website: http://www.allester.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CogentHippo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALLesterAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cogenthippo/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/A.-L.-Lester/e/B01MZ6R1QR/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/allester

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

 

A MelanieM Review: Beyond The Tunnel (The Wizard Shifter #1) by Dan Mitton

 
 Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
 

What would you do if you rode into a mountain tunnel in North Carolina and then rode out into a different world? Adam Stephens is about to find out…


Adam Stephens is a man with a mission. It has been three years since they chopped that malignant brain tumor out of his head, and he is off on a solo motorcycle camping trip through the Appalachian Mountains.


When he rides into the Pine Mountain Tunnel in North Carolina and rides out into another realm—a realm that comes complete with a big sexy grizzly bear shifter, mages, and an evil sorcerer—he isn’t sure he isn’t lying in the tunnel after crashing his bike. Can such a world exist? Or is he dreaming? If he is dreaming…it sure is realistic.


Along the way, there will be some major hurdles to surpass including no indoor plumbing…and no coffee. A man needs some basic luxuries, correct?

I’m as divided about writing this review as I was when I finished this story. Beyond The Tunnel (The Wizard Shifter #1) by Dan Mitton has left me with so many mixed thoughts and feelings about this novel.  Generally,  they are all mostly good. I completed the story knowing I would love to read more in the series and that the characters certainly left a big enough impression that I wanted to know what happened to them after the ending.

First off?  I loved the premise of this story.  A man still in recovery from brain surgery decides to take motorcycle trip he had always planned on before his next chemo session starts.  Only the light he sees exiting a tunnel in North Carolina shines with a different glow, the highway has disappeared, and the forest turned almost primeval in it’s towering growth. Is it a delusion…a result of the surgery and tumor or is it real?  That would have been an interesting road to travel but Mitton goes for the straightford route which still works here.

Adams has found his  way into another world, complete with magic, shifters, and an evil sorcerer.  Whew.  Once here, so many things start to happen.  There’s a huge case of instant love.  And to give the author his due, Adam remarks that yes, it’s instant love with tons of sex.  Unfortunately, this part of the story doesn’t help the book.  I liked both characters of Adam and Rafe but never felt that they had the time to develop their relationship.  That ‘instant love’ thing just doesn’t work here.  Good thing both are likable.

However, there’s so much more happening here.  Mostly about an evil sorcerer, who just happens to be from Adam’s time.  I found the author’s ability to make the villages and their inhabitants come alive especially appealing and essential to this story.  I cared about them and certain events are devastating.

Mitton sets himself a high agenda here with this story, with multiple tasks he obviously he wanted to accomplish with the narrative. So much so that he starts with certain threads and then drops them throughout the storyline.  I’m not sure if that’s because he’s going to use them in stories down the line or what.  But to have these tantalizing hints tossed out here and then nothing made of them? Sort of irritating.  Adam glowed in the dark in places Rafe reported?  Had snatches of lightning that appeared around him?  Little story elements  so curious and neat that just disappear never to be seen again.  Argh.  And yes, there are huge holes in the story here that never to get explained satisfactorily or at all.  Almost all center around magic, Adam and the mysterious sorcerer.

However, there are scenes so beautifully descriptive you’ll believe you are there.  Characters both down to earth and magical that you’ll connect with and root for.  There’s so much in this story that even when you want to say “why did he pull that in”, you keep going because you have to know what happens to them all.

I won’t discuss the ending.  Parts really didn’t make too much sense, especially with regards to the evil sorcerer.  So I expect he’s coming back in the sequel.  It all ends on an up and joyous note, one that will make you want to read the next story.

Cover art works for both the characters and the storyline,  Great job.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Exstasy 
 
Length: 79,777 words

 

A Lila Audiobook Review: Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists by Angel Martinez and Michael Pauley (Narrator)

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

A poltergeist haunts Taro, dogging his international travels. It washes glasses, puts dishes away, and even dusts. At least he hopes it’s a cleaning-obsessed poltergeist and not his own anxieties burbling over into neat freak fits he doesn’t remember. When his property manager suggests he call paranormal expert, Jack Montrose, Taro’s skeptical but desperate enough to try even a ghost hunter.

Jack’s arrival crushes Taro’s hopes of a dashing Van Helsing-style hero. Instead of an invincible hunter, he gets Ichabod Crane. As the paranormal puzzles multiply and Jack begins to suggest the entity might not be a ghostly one, Taro adds a budding friendship with Jack to his pile of anxieties. It’s a race to see whether Taro’s poltergeist or his relationship with the obviously-not-ace Jack will reach maximum strangeness first.

Uncommonly Tidy Poltergeists never pulled me in. Taro’s self-reprieves take too much of the initial part of the story for me to feel compelled by his story. The initial meeting with his family and the subsequential travels were rushed and almost identical. I understand the author was trying to set the plot of the story, but I kept waiting for something interesting to happen.

The trips were almost like a list of places he visited were the same “magical cleaning” happening. He was always tired and lonely but the minimal interactions with others and his internal dialogue didn’t make me want to know more about his situation or his past.

Getting to know Jack was hard too; especially from Taro’s perspective. Perhaps a little more information was needed to sympathize with him and their relationship. Their main conversation about their differences was a bit awkward and it was hard to believe in them and their future.

Overall, it is a nice story, with the author’s natural fun and quirky writing. It just not great.

I didn’t enjoy Michael Pauley’s narration. Yes, the voices were distinct but it was more of a performance than a narration. It was hard to get into the story without feeling as if the whole thing was being forced. It had an unnatural quality that made me want to take breaks when listening to the story.

The cover by L.C. Chase is a cute representation of the story’s main plot and it has a ghostly feel that fits well.

Sales Links:  Mischief | iTunes | Audible

Audiobook Details:

Narrator: Michael Pauley
Length: 4 hours 2 minutes
Published: November 15, 2017 (Audio Edition) by Mischief Corner Books
ASIN: B077GDKWBC
Edition Language: English

An Alisa Review: Tangled Up in You by Emily Carrington

Rating:  3.5 stars out of 5

Retired SearchLight agent Jason Campbell stumbles into intrigue in Kansas. Never attracted to women or men, he finds himself compelled by a fox demigod who gets to him through the magical medium of music. As Jason falls deeply in love with Reynard, he discovers an awful secret: Reynard is slave to a monster. As Jason struggles to free both Reynard and the fox-god’s son, he must do so without weapons, without backup, and without all the facts, which could lead to death’s retirement.

It was nice to read another story in the SerchLight universe however even though this doesn’t need to be read in order with any other story I felt as if there was a lot of little information missing.  Jason doesn’t know what to do with himself when is forced into retirement by SearchLight.  Reynard has been captive for so long he doesn’t know how to react to the confusing human who stumbles upon him.

I felt as if I was watching this story from a distance and didn’t really get to understand the characters.  I loved that Jason wanted to help Reynard but never felt as if these two really connected and they didn’t seem to get it either.  It also didn’t make sense to me how Reynard is a demigod but doesn’t always know when he is using his powers.  There was just so much talking in circles and around topics that while I liked the story it just seemed disjointed.

Cover art by Fiona Jayde is nice and follows the style of other SearchLight stories but the models seem way too young for two guys in their forties.

Sales Links: Loose Id | Amazon | B&N

Book Details:

ebook, 127 pages

Published: November 20, 2017 by Loose Id

ISBN: 978-1-68252-444-2

Edition Language: English

Series: SearchLight Universe

A Stella Review: Like a Gentleman by Eliot Grayson

RATING 4 out of 5 stars

James Rowley, penniless younger brother of an earl, discovers his rejected sensational story has been stolen and printed under another name — and he’s certain his editor is the guilty party. Determined to get his due, he sets out for London to take revenge on the perfidious L. Wells. He means to have satisfaction, even if he needs to pose as a simpering fop in a pink waistcoat to get it.

Two years before, intrigued by his favorite writer’s talent and wit, Leo Wells had visited the Rowley estate incognito, seen James’s portrait — and promptly lost what was left of his heart. Ever since, Leo has fought his obsession with his favorite writer. Unaware of the manuscript’s theft, he’s bewildered and heartbroken when James, acting the part of a sneering dandy, visits him in person only to use his obvious attraction against him.

From Gloucestershire to London to Portsmouth, can two men with society and secrets dividing them find happiness?

I’m not a huge fan of historical MM romance and I’m always picky about the books I decide to read cause I don’t want to end hating them just because they are not set in the contemporary time. Nonetheless I wanted to have Like A Gentleman on my Kindle as  soon as I read the blurb, it strongly interested me and at the end the author, a new to me author, didn’t disappoint me at all.

This was a quick read, just a little more than 60 pages but they were very well done. Eliot Greyson simply succeeded in the greatest way possible with Like a Gentleman. I was able to find here everything I always look into my readings, well written words, engaging world, the characters built and likeable. I found myself into a good defined plot made of passion and revenge. And the chemistry between James and Leo was explosive. And there was some sweetness too. I couldn’t ask for more.

I’m now writing this review and to be honest, I want to reread the story, so yes, I’m going to do it right this second. Highly recommended if you are a fan of Regency romance or not, like me.

The cover art is simple and fitting to the era. I don’t despite it but I don’t love it either.

SALE LINKS  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 69 pages

Published November 4th 2017 by Smoking Teacup Books

ASIN B0776F4GX7

Edition Language English

Hannah Carmack on Tagging, Writing, and her new release Seven-Sided Spy (guest blog)

Seven-Sided Spy by Hannah Carmack
NineStar Press
Release Date: January 15th

Buy at NineStar Press

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Hannah Carmack here today to talk about her new release Seven-Sided Spy and her thoughts on writing, tagging and unhappily every after.  Welcome, Hannah.

Hannah Carmack on Unhappily Ever After

At first, I thought the tagging was a mistake. The manuscript was back from the proofer and below Heat Level: 0 (Which is a measure of spicy romance scenes, not general warmth of the novel’s content,) was a list of tags:

Abduction, historical, spies, no HEA or HFN, revenge, gay, lesbian, eating disorder, secret agent, graphic violence, m/c dies.

M/C DIES. My immediate thought was ‘Uh, spoiler?’ As fast as my fingers could type, I wrote my editor asking if there’d been an error in tagging. I was surprised to learn that there hadn’t. Now, my editor is the bomb.com and my press is flippin’ the best, so I was surprised that they’d include a tag that gave away so much. Especially in a book where the ending is so emotionally charged. Coupled with the no HEA or HFN (which stand for Happily Ever After and Happy For Now,) I was certain that we’d given too much away.

Then, it happened. As I sent the Advance Reader Copies out, tags included, I had a reviewer write me back. They expressed immense gratitude that I’d included the spoiler-y tags and decided that they needed to pass on the novel at this time in their life. Which I completely understand, respect, and applaud them for. Self-care comes first, kids.

The tags that I initially pushed back on were in fact that the tags that mattered the most. Had I not included them, my book, whose goal it is to bring pleasure to readers, could have hurt someone. In the times we’re in, it may be best to take the Adam Silvera Approach. Being completely upfront with your readers about anything that could be seen as upsetting or distressing –Dog deaths included– is one of the kindest things you can do. 

Blurb

In the midst of the cold war, the CIA’s finest and most fatal female agent, Diana Riley, vanishes. Kidnapped by the KGB and taken to the backcountry of North Carolina, she and her team of unsavory partners are forced to undergo illegal experimentation.

But, when the experiments leave them horribly deformed and unable to reenter society without someone crying monster, the previously glamorous and high-maintenance spies must escape KGB captivity and avoid recapture at the hands of Nikola, a ruthless KGB agent with an intense and well-justified grudge against her former flame.

A MelanieM Review: Ghoulish by Kat Bellamy

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Colt Jager never knew what happened to the parents who abandoned him, and he never cared–until he inherited their ghoulish secret.

Raised as a human who had no idea he was anything but a blue-collar construction worker until the night of his 25th birthday, Colt finds it hard to adjust to life in the Kinship, a hidden world woven discreetly into human society.

After a grisly encounter with his true nature, Colt meets a family of human-friendly ghouls who teach him that there’s a way to be inhuman without being inhumane. But things get complicated when he realizes that the “wolf attack” responsible for killing his boyfriend’s brother was actually committed by a ghoul on the hunt.

When an elite family of especially monstrous ghouls called Alphas threatens the man he loves, Colt will have to lie to Jason to keep him safe. Can a predator ever truly be a hero, or will the man he loves become his prey?

What an unexpected treat this story turned out to be!  A first release by Kat Bellamy, Ghoulish revolves around a main character that’s yes, a ghoul in love with a human, not that he’s aware of it right at the very beginning of the story.  Now ghouls are not something I normally find as main characters in my LGBTQIA romances or any romances for that  matter in fiction.

Where do I find them?  In superb anime like Tokyo Ghoul (if you love anime’ and haven’t found this series, it’s a must) or, ok, that’s about it. I can’t think of any outside of anime or Manga. So for Bellamy to make this work (and they did), they needed to create an empathetic character, a group of support characters we can also care about, do a terrific job with their universe building, and weave in a romance and a suspenseful plot.

Check, check, check, check,  and check.  All accomplished.

Not bad for a first work.  In fact, this story had me in it’s grip from the moment Colt discovers his true nature.  From then on, it’s a “hang onto your seat, flip that page, stay riveted to the story” sort of tale.  I became so immersed in Colt’s life, his deadly situations (really no pun intended), even his romance with Jason, that I was unaware of the time flying by.  It was 2 am when I finished and I was heartily sorry to see these characters go.

Several things here.  There is a fairly large cast of characters but not too many that a reader can’t keep track of them.  The world building isn’t complete but as there’s a sequel coming, I won’t fault the author on that, hoping the new novel is going to fill in the blanks as the title (The Kinship) seems to infer. This is a HFN and honestly, the romance sort of takes a backseat, or at least slides a bit to the side, to all the other marvelous narrative work going on here.  It’s a thriller, laden with suspense, but still manages to be full of tons of heartwarming elements and love.  Huh, how about that! And that’s on the ghoul side!

Anyway. Any details would just spoil this so none are given.  Read it!  The characters are great, the writing flows quickly, the scenes are vivid, and the story will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Plus I thought the ending worked  because there’s a sequel coming and hopefully, there’s a younger character I need to spend more time with.  And we still have some mysteries to unfold.  Yes, I can see this as a series to successfully run on past the sequel.  Now I’m anxiously waiting the next book out.  Why not pick this one up and catch up to me!  I highly recommend it!  Ghouls in love are so much fun!

Cover art is eye-catching even if that model is getting to be a bit overworked.

Sales Link:  Amazon | Amazon UK | Goodreads

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 314 pages
Published October 22nd 2017
ASINB076P71FF