Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts

Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Review: Feel the Burn by G.A. Aiken

The Blurb

War makes strange bedfellows.

I, Gaius Domitus, one-eyed rebel dragon king of the Provinces, know that better than most, since I have to fight off half my ungrateful family on a regular basis to keep law and order here in my lands. But I never expected to have to consort with a barbarian human woman.

Kachka is beautiful, if you like them fierce—and of course I do. But she keeps complaining about how spoiled and decadent I am, and how a feared Daughter of the Steppes has no time for foolish dragons. I think she likes my eye patch, though. It is quite dashing. With death always at our tails, we take our passion like we take our allies. As they say, love the barbarian you’re with… 

My Review
I now have a new number two favorite for this series. Dragon Actually is still number one. I’ve been in love with Gaius since I knew him to be a mean bastard when Annwyl (who is still my ultimate favorite heroine) first met him and offered her services. Kachka is too amazing for words. Put Gaius and Kachka together and there’s sarcasm galore. Add the other characters and I laughed so hard I had to put the book down a couple of times.

The best part about the series is that I know there’s more to come.

I purchased this book from Amazon.


I give this book five out of five bear shaped chocolate bars.

Thursday, 3 December 2015

Review: Dragon on Top by G.A. Aiken #Fantasy

The Blurb

Try a little dragon tenderness.

I am Glheanna the Decimator. I am a warrior. A soldier. I know no fear. No pain. No mercy. I do, however, know acute embarrassment! How could I not after getting dumped by a bastard dragon in front of my own troops? So I tuck tail and return to my cave, drowning my sorrows in ale—as is my family’s way. But instead of leaving me to my misery, I’ve been summoned to the Dragon Queen’s court.

As if my life wasn’t pathetic enough, Her Majesty now has me escorting the highborn Bram the Merciful through dangerous territories—not exactly the best use of my military training. And just so he can negotiate with enemy dragons instead of battling them? Honestly, what has my world come to? Then again…Bram is quite easy on the eyes. And the perfect distraction for what ails me. Perhaps I’m looking at all this the wrong way. Maybe there is a place for a little “mercy” in my life… 

My Review
Once again I’m in love with this backstory Dragon Kin Series. I love reading about how the older dragons got together. Bram and Ghleanna’s story was especially good because revealed how such a benign dragon ended up with a dragonwarrior and it introduced me to the the ocean dragons.

Other than it being funny, romantic, spicy, and all around fantastic, I don’t have much to say about this novella. So good.

I purchased this book from Amazon.


I give this five out of five ax shaped chocolate bars.

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Prah, Constantine, and Baryeh Review: The Masquerade, an Altar, & a Fairy by Kristen D. Van Risseghem


Welcome to another another month of triple reviews. For September we read a paranormal. The cover was so enchanting and the blurb enticing that we couldn’t resist this fantasy novella.




The Blurb
Frustrated with her extravagant duties as a Summer fairy, Sidelle Amistad is desperate to prove she can be more than a petty princess. The accidental capture of Winter fairy, Finnegan, looks like the ideal opportunity—until Sidelle and Finnegan fall in love. 

Knowing her love for Finnegan is forbidden, a heartbroken Sidelle searches for deeper meaning in her eternal existence. Her pain leads her on a quest to help the humans … in a desperate fight against Hell itself.

My Review

The romance between Sidelle and Finnegan was so sweet. A slow burning love grew between them, even though it was forbidden.

Ms. Van Risseghem took us on quite an adventure, dealing with fairies, humans, and other mystical creatures which will remain nameless. I loved the way Sidelle became a kick ass fairy during her stay in the human world. I enjoyed the way the author added human history and put a paranormal slant on how it occurred.

This is not a stand-alone novella. There were a lot of loose ends. Such as with us not knowing what happened with Finnegan, the disappearance of one of the mystical creatures Sidelle became friends with from her life, and some little details within the book that weren’t answered, but I expected answeres to.

This was a pleasant read that left me entertained.

I give this book three and a half wing shaped chocolate bars.

I purchase my copy from:


Thursday, 18 June 2015

Review: How to Drive a Dragon Crazy by G. A. Aiken


The Blurb
Some things never go away, like vile enemies, bad ale, and annoying kin. But I thought I was finished with the one dragon I'd have done anything for: Ɖibhear the Blue, a big, gorgeous, blue-haired beast who thinks the world belongs to him. The world and, apparently, me.

So if Ɖibhear wants to play the caring hero and travel into the most forsaken of Gods forsaken lands to protect the one woman who doesn't need it--namely me--I'll let him. Because while I'm trying to fulfill a ridiculous quest for a pushy god, I'm going to draw this overconfident warlord much too close, rekindle his fires, and enjoy every minute of his delicious defeat...


My review
I’ve been waiting for this romance to set off ever since Izzy and Eibhear first met. I love their relationship. I got to see them grow from teenagers (a little higher in number for the dragon but same mentality) and mature into fierce warriors. And I’m not going to get started on their passion because I’d never stop.

After Annwyl and Feargus’ story I have to say this is my second favorite (might I add that the others were fabulous). I think I fell so in love with their story because I already knew and liked these two characters and wanted them to be together from the beginning. Amazing writing that made me laugh, gasp and cheer.

Do yourself a favor and get hooked on this series, you won’t regret it.

I give this five out five battle ax shaped chocolate bars.

I purchased this book from Amazon as a book bundle.


Thursday, 21 August 2014

Spotlight: Taking Vengeance by M.K. Theodoratus #HistoricalFiction #Fantasy


Taking Vengeance by +M. K. Theodoratus 
Historical Fantasy Fiction

Furious, Mariah and Ashton, seek vengeance for brutal attack on their daughter by vicious Sea Raiders.

In a tale older than time itself, Taking Vengeance tells a story about the strength and conviction of a mother's love against those who would harm her family. After witnessing centuries of fighting and chaos against her people and her own bickering with Linden, the ruler of the Far Isles Half-Elven, Mariah has withdrawn from politics to seek a peaceful life as a healer. 

But Mariah's peace is short lived when Sea Raiders attack her daughter's family, leaving her at death's door. The act of bigoted cruelty plunges Mariah into despair. Her grief is sensed by Ashton, her partner who is far away spying on their southern enemies, and he uses his elven magic to rush to her side. The couple's rage boils over at the outrage. Ashton urges Mariah to belt on her sword and seek vengeance against their daughter's attackers.

Mariah discovers the Sea Raiders wield a strange new magic that threatens all they hold dear. But can she convince Linden that their country is in danger before it's too late? 
Taking Vengeance is a tale set in the world of the Far Isles Half-Elven, who constantly fight among themselves even though they’re beset by enemies on all sides.





Mariah lifted her arms over her head, stretching to feel the full impact of the retreating gale. If only Ashton and I could sail away from our troubles with our daughter!

Tired from a day of mediating petty disputes for her holding and helping at the healer's hall, Mariah stood on a promontory over-looking the churning eastern sea. The wind whipped her loose chestnut hair around her head. The gusts tempted her to ride the buffeting air currents, not keeping her pointed ears politely tacked to her head out of sight under her hair. The illusion of freedom teased the weight of time and sorrow from her thoughts.

For a moment she thought of removing her shirt to feel the wind against her unbound breasts but changed her mind. Flight held no allure without Ashton next to her. When alone, they often sailed the air currents, making love, their souls merging until their bodies glowed and sparked with their commingled power.

Her mind reached out to caress the tether of woven energy between them. Ashton was angry. Her lips tightened, but she couldn’t help him. They had agreed to live apart to ease Linden's complaints that they picked at him, two against one.

:Mother, where are you?

Her daughter’s silent cry riveted Mariah’s attention. Norerah and her family should be far at sea by now. Unexpected pain invaded her mind as she sought out her daughter, only to catch a dim glimpse of her own hall far to the west.

:Ambush.

The thought was a bare whisper before the connection between them went dark. Mariah transferred home across the leagues without thinking and found her daughter bleeding on the floor of her own hall. A harpoon pierced the babe in her carrypack and opened a gaping wound across Norerah’s back until it embedded in her shoulder. Her daughter's reddish-brown warrior’s braid fell across the blood-soaked rag rug the two had stitched together during the long winter nights.

Kneeling by the expanding stain, Mariah struggled to remain calm. She took a deep breath as her fingers traced the path of the harpoon barb under the skin. Using the magic that made her a skilled healer, she mentally probed the broken ribs and lacerated flesh as she sought the source of pulsing blood. She needed to stop the flow; Norie had already lost too much.

Mariah took deep breaths to stay calm. The aftermath of battles always crippled her thinking. She forced the mocking memory of her elder son, sprawled on a battlefield pierced by arrows, from her mind. The healer had no time to soothe that wound to her heart. Only a thread tied her daughter’s life to this world.

Twisting her hair into a knot with bloody hands, Mariah bit her lip. I refuse to give her up to the Fates! The Summerlands can’t have her. One child is enough to give up too early. 






Comics first hooked M. K. Theodoratus on fantasy. When she discovered L. Frank Baum's first Oz books, the strong female characters drew her into the possibilities of alternate worlds. Then, she stared writing in grade school when a teacher assigned a short story lesson. The assignment was incomplete at 25 pages, but she finished the book by the next summer. The Children’s Librarian, the only other person who’s read it, thought it well-done.

Theodoratus has enjoyed at least four writing careers, including non-fiction. Now she writes fantasy ... mostly because it amuses her. Theodoratus writes in the world of her grumpy Far Isles Half-Elven, often featuring Mariah del Oesti or Renna of Ren Creek. She also explores other magical worlds of ghosts, gargoyles, and Fae. Most of her newer stories are set in Andor where demons prey on humans. You can read more about her fantasy at http://www.mktheodoratus.com

   





Saturday, 2 November 2013

Book Spotlight: Outcast by Kiru Taye- $5 Amazon GC and ebook #giveaway

Book Release Blitz
Outcast
Sacred Amulet, part one
Kiru Taye

Tags: Paranormal / Fantasy / Romance

Out November 1, 2013
Available from Amazon

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GEFQSAG

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GEFQSAG


FREE Kindle Download from November 4 to 6
Available for $0.99 / £0.77 afterwards until 30 November 2013.

Blurb

Ugo’ji is an outcast, an untouchable. She lives on the fringe of society as the lowest of the low, a living sacrifice to the gods. The only person she interacts with is her aged grandmother Nne who nurtures her powerful gift of healing. Until the day she meets Ebube a strange warrior to their lands. He  ignites a yearning within her she's unable to ignore.

Ebube is drawn to the young maiden with the emerald green eyes who possesses the body of a goddess and the healing touch of an angel. But he is forbidden from mating with a human and the consequence is the wrath of the gods.
Moreover he is on a mission. If he fails, the gates of hell will be opened and the earth plunged into darkness. He cannot stay and she cannot go with him.

Excerpt

Help me...Do whatever it takes...Keep the gates of Alammuo sealed.

Darkness tugged at him and threatened to pull him into its murky depths. With a jerk, Ebube sat up on his pallet. The creaking wood and thumping of his heart echoed in his acutely responsive ears.
Danger seeped from the nightmare he couldn’t remember into the air, leaden and oppressive. His breath heaved as he choked, his throat clogged with the fetid stench of death.

On reflex, he extended his right arm, grabbing the scabbard he always kept within reach, the pitch shadow no hindrance for his sharp eyesight. As a leopard-shifter, his vision was excellent, night and day. He didn't need to look at his hands to see the extended claws. Sharp tips dug into his palm. He ignored the sting and his awkward grip on the carved wooden hilt of the single edge sword.

His beast came to the fore, clawing to take over, an instinctive response to potential threats. Muscles tensed, Ebube fought the shift. Sweat streaked down his body in rivulets. He swiped his face with his left palm, stopping the liquid from dripping into his eyes.

Sweeping his gaze across the large, airy chamber of his sparsely-decorated home, he sought the source of danger setting off his internal alarm.

Apart from the raised bamboo sleeping platform covered in padded deer hide and the wooden trunk that stored his personal belongings, the only other items were his tools of warfare – his spears, shields, machetes and scabbards. They hung on the single-rung mantel against the burnt-umber rock wall, gleaming with polish and sharpness, ready for use.  Undisturbed.

A tingle ran up his spinal column, the way it always did when he sensed something out of place. Something terribly wrong. He swung his legs around. Cool unglazed stone flooring met his bare feet. The muscles on his back tensed, primed for action. Slowly, he stood to his full height and walked through the room.

His home consisted of two chambers, one for sleeping and the other for entertaining guests. Though as a guardian, a special warrior of the gods, he could live as luxuriously as the gods did, they had agreed communally to live as simply as humans of the era so as not to draw attention to themselves as supernatural beings.

Nothing was out of place in his rooms, no stray, malevolent being in the vicinity. Yet the tingling in his bones didn't dissipate. When he found nothing inside, he grabbed the wooden knob, opened the door and walked onto the corridor linking his residence to the rest of his family's. Their homes were hewn out of Amauwa rocks, a hill range in the middle of the rain forest.

He stopped in front of the last house, the tension on his shoulders increasing. Nothing lurked inside it, living or inanimate. Yet the memory of the previous occupant flooded his mind, hitting him low in the abdomen, spreading pain through his body. Gritting his teeth, he shook his head and turned his back to the building and its unwelcome memories.


About Kiru

A lover of books, as a teenager Kiru Taye used to read novels under the blanket during lights-outs in boarding school. These days, with a young family to take care of, she's still sacrificing sleep for the pleasures of a good book.
During the day though, she transforms her wildly vivid imagination into sensual, atmospheric romance stories with passionate characters.
When she’s not writing or reading, she'd hanging out with family and friends or travelling. Born in Nigeria, she currently lives in the UK with husband and children.
You reach her via her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest
Follow her blog for latest news and giveaways: http://kirutayewrites.blogspot.com
Read book excerpts and free short stories on her website: http://www.kirutaye.com
Contest
Kiru is giving away 2x $5 Amazon gift cards or paypal cash and 5x ebooks of the follow-up story Sacrifice. Complete the rafflecopter to enter the prize draw.


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Monday, 14 October 2013

The Unholy By Paul DeBlassie III : Guest Post and #Giveaway



Paul DeBlassie III author of The Unholy has some adice to share with writers (whether published or not). Remember to fill in the Rafflecopter at the end to enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN gift card


If you’re feeling the impulse to write it’s because you have writing in you so do not stop no matter what inner or outer critics have to say because it’s not about going down a dead end road and then giving up so much as taking turns in the road as they present themselves. Write and never stop. I read a famous horror writer state that each writer needs to know when they should just give up. Completely, totally, and utterly I disagree. There is no giving up for the authentic writer, one inspired, called by the gods. Writing is matter of sanity and life. To not write for a writer is no more possible than to not breathe. Writers everywhere keep on writing.

Never has there been more opportunity to write and be published. Even being published is secondary. Write and never stop because at some point and in some way you’re going to hit a stride that will catch a publishers eye and they’ll want to take you on. So, as far as advice for writers, stay with it, never ever give up, catch your stride and without question you will one day meet up with your publisher and audience.

Lastly, when despair comes over you as a writer, take it as a good thing since usually behind all things shadowy there is a truck load of potential. That potential eventually reaches consciousness providing that despair is understood as a fallow time and nothing more or less than that. It’s not a dead end. It’s a turn in the road or redirection of sorts that sends the writer deeper so she or he can listen with greater sensitivity and ultimately discover fresh inspiration.


BLURB: 

A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, The Unholy is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. Native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision.
  
Excerpt

“Help me? Help yourself! Face what is yours to face,” Elizabeth hissed. She yanked the door open then forced it to slam behind her.

Claire stood still for a moment, feeling as if a tornado had swept through the room. Elizabeth’s demand had left her shaken. She drew a deep breath, then went to her desk and picked up her tea, noticing her trembling hands.

Turning toward the window, Claire saw a muscular orderly accompanying Elizabeth to the locked ward at the far end of the hospital compound. A flock of crows circled high overhead, seeming to follow the two receding figures. As they arrived at the outer doors of the locked unit, the orderly reached for his keys. The crows circled while the two crossed the threshold of the unit, Elizabeth suddenly pausing, turning, and looking outside, her gaze riveted on the flock of birds.

All but two flew off, disappearing into the piƱon-covered hills. The two that remained came to rest on the red brick wall adjacent to the locked unit, their black eyes boring into Elizabeth. She looked panicked then enraged and, shaking a finger at the creatures, yelled something. Her frantic gestures told Claire that she was screeching curses to ward off evil.

Claire took a step back from the window, from the impact of Elizabeth’s rage.

The orderly grabbed Elizabeth roughly by the arm and pulled her inside.

The crows waited, watched, then flew away.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:


Paul DeBlassie III, Ph.D., is a psychologist and writer living in Albuquerque who has treated survivors of the dark side of religion for more than 30 years. His professional consultation practice — SoulCare — is devoted to the tending of the soul. Dr. DeBlassie writes fiction with a healing emphasis. He has been deeply influenced by the mestizo myth of Aztlan, its surreal beauty and natural magic.  He is a member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.  

Remember to stop by the other blogs that Paul is touring on to increase your chances of winning the generous gift card. The tour dates can be found here

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