Tag Archives: fantasy

Apathetic Avengers by J. Rose Alexander and Aurora Zahni (Book Review)

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The only thing Rachel Hingis hated more than swimming was having to play well with others. Edgar Fern, nerd extraordinaire, couldn’t find anyone to play with. Life would have been just fine if they never crossed paths.

Instead, they collided.

The victims of an accidental experiment deep in the corn fields of Iowa, they and four others -Alex, Celeste, Laura and Susan – were changed, and not necessarily for the better. As a mysterious group (insert sinister title here) starts to pick off Red Bug’s students, they have a choice to make: become victims, or become heroes.

The bumpy road to being a masked avenger is fraught with conflict, mystery, explosions– and Freezees.

 
 
 
(request submitted by Aurora Zahni (author) for an honest critique)

When Aurora asked me to read Apathetic Avengers, I counted the days until the superhero book was in my greedy, little hands. Aurora knows I love comic/superheroes so he was confident I would enjoy this book… which I did. 
 
How could you not like these group of super teens. When their tale started in detention class and their personalities began to unfold, I immediately thought of The Breakfast Club; a movie all should watch and often. It’s a true classic!! 
 
As for the powers these teens possessed, we witnessed super-strength, telekinesis, magic wielder and my favorite —- the ability to transmute anything at the basic chemical level. Celeste (Chemical Avenger) turned gas into water and converted a bullet into garlic. Pretty wicked cool, right!! 
 
With all the special skills at the FBI’s disposal, their services were called upon often. They don’t save everyone but, like any true hero, they kept trying. 
 
However, thru all the high-packed action scenes, one question kept nagging at me — a loose end. How did these kids come upon their super abilities? Maybe this question will be answered in the sequel, but as a reader, I was hoping for some nuggets of information. 
 
On a final note, I’m not sure who quoted Speed but I loved it. Best action movie ever!! 

 

Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5  (highest) 
Score: ❤❤❤❤
 

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Interview with V.A. Dold

 
       1. Welcome,V.A. Dold. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?
 
(V.A. Dold) Hi. Thank you for having me. I have a marketing degree and was a publicist for authors, which gradually led to writing my own novels.
 
2. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.
 
(V.A. Dold) I have had slow downs from burn out but I’ve never had writers block.
 
3. Contrary to what some people envision about a romance writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us. With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
 
(V.A. Dold) Reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends.
 
4. I know many writers, such as myself, keep their pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are their thoughts?
 
(V.A. Dold) Everyone who knows me knows I write. My very catholic family pretty much ignores it, but my friend and children support it whole heartedly.
  
5. If you could choose one book to go to the big screen,
yours or otherwise,
which book would you choose and whom would you love to see cast in the parts?
(V.A. Dold) Oh Wow.
I’d love to see Cade as a movie.
 
 
I think Matt Bomer for Cade
 
And Melissa McCarthy for Anna 
 
 
6. Would you care to tell us what you’re working on now? That is if it’s not top-secret information. If so, just whisper it in my ear. I swear it’ll go no further.
 
(V.A. Dold) Richie 
 
Four years ago, Richie met a group of Tulane freshmen when he saved one of them from a mugger. Now the first of their menagerie is getting married. Surprise of all surprises, Richie meets his mate, Piper, at the wedding in Missouri, of all places. He didn’t expect her to be a bounty hunter or that her murderous prey had turned the tables and she was now the hunted. Will Piper apprehend her bounty or will her bounty get to her first?
Can Richie save her from the death he foresaw in a premonition? Injuries are mounting and time is running out.
 
     7. Where can we find your stories, and is there a particular reading order?
 
(V.A. Dold) Just about any retailer Amazon, B&N, and iBooks
# 5 Lucas
# 6 Richie
 
     8. Would you please share how your present and future fans can contact you?
 
(V.A. Dold) I have a website   http://www.vadold.com
Or email  vadold@yahoo.com
 
9. Before we conclude this enlightening interview, do you have anything else you’d like to share? The stage is all yours.
 
(V.A. Dold) After Richie I’ll be writing another Cowboy in my K.I.S.S. Series so stay tuned for that. And Seth is talking loudly in the Le Beau Series. Here is the blurb for his up coming book:
 
Orphaned at birth, Seth is adopted and raised by the king and queen of the shifters, Isaac and Emma Le Beau.
 
Circumstances and heart break propel him into the elite band of hunters. Shifters pledged to serve the Goddess as her right hand. Meting out justice to the shifters who gorogue.
 
Burned out and ready to retire, Seth seeks refuge at the plantation, but Isaac has one last hunt for him to complete.
 
Unable to deny his father and king, will this assignment be his undoing or his salvation?
 
 
Wow, you are one busy lady!! 🙂
Congratulations to all the books you’ve written and the best of luck on the WIP’s. 
 
Readers, I hope you enjoyed my interview with V.A. Dold and found one or more books that intrigue you. If you answered yes, AWESOMENESS, my job is now complete. 🙂 

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Author Showcase/Interview and Review of “Dream Walker” – Kimberly Dean

 
 
 Welcome, Kimberly Dean!!
 
1. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the
readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?  
 
(Kimberly) Hello, everyone!  I’m an author of romance and erotica and have
been published since 2004.  My start came
a bit differently from other authors’.  I
wrote a manuscript and sent it to Black Lace Books in London.  I heard nothing until one day I opened my
mail and there was a contract!  A week
later, another one showed up for a short story I’d also sent.  To me, that was so much better than a phone
call. It was on paper and real.  I
was suddenly an author.
 
2.  Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.
 
(Kimberly) First and foremost,
I step away from the computer. If I’ve hit a block, it means my well is
dry.  I’ll go for a walk, listen to
music, or even clean the house. 
Sometimes the answer just pops into my head.  Another technique I’ve developed is making
flash cards.  I’ll write highlights for
my plot on each card and organize them. 
Knowing that I have an overall roadmap helps me focus on just getting
from Point A to Point B. 
 
3. Contrary to what some people envision about a romance
writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us.
With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how do you spend
your time? 
 
(Kimberly) I’m assuming you also mean when I’m not blogging, updating my website, looking
over promo opportunities, plotting, Tweeting, or putting together a
newsletter?  🙂 There’s not much time left, but I spend a lot of time
taking care of my flower gardens.
 
4. I know many writers, such as myself, keep their
pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are
their thoughts?  
 
(Kimberly) I
am a writer in deep-cover mode.  Only a
handful of people know that I write, and none of them know what I write.  They’re
super-curious, but this is a part of my life that I’ve cordoned off for
me.  I enjoy it, and that’s enough for
me.
 
5. Will you share with us your all-time favorite authors? If
you’re like me, it’s a long list so give us your top ten.  
 
(Kimberly) Tough call.  I’ll go with Linda Howard, Sandra Brown, Anne
Stuart, Nalini Singh, J.R. Ward, J.K. Rowling, Stieg Larsson, S.E. Hinton, David
Baldacci, Sidney Sheldon
 
Kam: I <3 Ward, too!!!
 
6. If you could choose one book to go to the big screen,
yours or otherwise,
which book would you choose and whom would you love to see cast in the parts?
 
(Kimberly) With superhero movies
dominating the market, I’d have to go with my short story Blade of Moonlight.  It’s a
superhero erotic romance with Luminescence, who gets her power from the moon,
battling and falling in love with Scythe, a bad guy whose favorite weapon is a…
well, you get it.  Off the top of my
head, I see Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in the starring roles.  Yeah, they’d do nicely.
                   
7. Would you care to tell us what you’re working on now?
That is if it’s not top-secret information. If so, just whisper it in my ear. I
swear it’ll go no further.   
 
(Kimberly) I’m in the middle of two series.  One is my Courting
series, a collection of contemporary erotic romance stories about a high-end
escort service that specializes in love. 
The other is my Dream Weavers paranormal romance series about the
Oneiroi, Greek daemons who bestow dreams upon sleeping humans.
 

 

 
 
 
8. Where can we find your stories, and is there a particular
reading order?  
 
(Kimberly) My
books are on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and all the other major players’
sites.  I’d say readers should go to my
website and choose by genre.  I write
contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and erotica.  I also split my time pretty evenly between
full-length novels and short stories.  If
someone is new to my work, they can choose a short story to get an idea of how
I write.  That’s what I do when trying
authors who are new to me.
 
9. Would you please share how your present and future fans
can contact you?  
 
(Kimberly) Sure!  I love hearing from
fans.  Readers can follow me on my
website at http://kimberlydean.com.  I’m
also on Twitter @KDean_writer.
 
10. Before we conclude this enlightening interview, do you
have anything else you’d like to share? The stage is all yours. 
 
(Kimberly) Thanks for inviting me to your blog, Kam, and thanks to
all the readers who love books.  I’ve
been running into a lot of people these days who are unhappy with their lives
or their work.  Find time for yourselves.  Keep reading. 
Do something fun.  Try something
new.  Go for your dreams!
 
 
Ladies and Gents, I
hope you enjoyed my interview with Kimberly Dean.
If you have any questions or comments for Kimberly,
by all means, leave her a message below. Thank you in advance for your
visit! 



Before you do that though, lets check out Dream Walker!! *big ass smile*
 

 

Research scientist Shea Caldwell has always had a thing for security consultant, Derek Oneiros. He’s smart, handsome, and built like a Greek god. As attracted as she is to him, though, she’s afraid to let him into her bed – because she’s dangerous when she sleeps.

Derek is known among his brothers as “The Machine,” yet his carefully cultivated control is put to the test whenever he’s around Shea. The woman is as beautiful as she is intelligent, but they’ve always kept things professional – until Derek learns why. Shea is sleepwalking again, but what she doesn’t know is that he may be the only one who can help her. For heis a Greek daemon, and he’s charged with protecting her dreams.

With Shea threatened, Derek makes things personal, and their nights together turn steamy and intimate. He’s ready to battle against the Somnambulist that’s been controlling his lover in her sleep, yet is the night creature really causing all the harm? When Shea’s groundbreaking research notes are stolen, it’s clear that other evil forces may be at work.

BUY NOW AT Amazon │ Amazon UK
 
 
 
(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 
 
As a person who suffers from unpleasant dreams (at times), it’s rather disturbing to think the creatures visiting me are real. That’s reason enough to pray for insomnia. 
On the other hand, it’s also rather reassuring to think of having your very own dream guardian. So…I think I will forego the caffeine and just succumb to my body’s need for slumber, restful or not. 
For my first introduction into the writing world/mind of Kimberly Dean, I have to say she impressed me. She weaved a rather engaging tale. The plot was thought out beautifully and didn’t really raise any red flags for me. Yeah, I knew who the real guilty party was in the story but the why kept me reading. Plus, the scenes between Shea and Derek were spicy!! 
Heck, I adored all the Dream Weavers. 
Brilliant read, Kimberly!! 
 
  
Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest) 
Score: ❤❤❤❤1/2
 
BUY NOW AT Amazon │ Amazon UK
 

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The True Picture by Alison Habens (Book Review)

‘The True Picture’ is the story of Veronica (Vera – True, Icon – Picture). It starts, around 33 AD, in the city of Tyre where ex-temple dancer and high-class purple dye trader Veronica comes face to face with Jesus one night at the necropolis as he tours Phoenicia with a crowd of followers.

 
Gradually she gives up all her treasures to follow him, too. She loses her towering hair-do and bronze bust of Venus, and leaves a trail of jewellery through Galilee and by the River Jordan, singing and drinking her way to the station on the Via Dolorosa where she wipes her master’s face with a cloth as he carries the cross. Famously, that image never fades: but the story of St. Veronica is refreshed in this funky new telling.
 
 
 
(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 
 
Man, oh man, I really wasn’t looking forward to writing this review. But, I gave Alison my word I’d be honest with my feelings regarding it. 
 
So with that said…… I’m sorry to say I didn’t enjoy this book. My opinion is NOT based on the fact it taps into religion. 
 
No, I felt Alison went overboard with describing everything in minute detail. I understand trying to set the scene for a reader but there comes a point where an author needs to learn “less is more”. 
 
With so much detail and information thrown at us, it reminded me of a textbook or an encyclopedia. Not highly entertaining but filled with vast amount of knowledge. 
 
 
Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest) 
Score:❤
 
 
 
 

Alison Habens is the author of Dreamhouse, Lifestory , Family Outing, and new novel The True Picture. She is course leader for Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth and has a PhD on the subject of ‘divine inspiration’! (She lives in an old church on the Isle of Wight and commutes to work by hovercraft.)

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Author Showcase/Review of “Digging of the Past (Tales From Atlantis) ” – Sandi Brackeen

 

bookcover

 

The Spade of Apocatequil can raise the dead and grant immortality—and it’s been stolen!

When supernatural agents Riley Perez and Jason, her partner at the clandestine government agency DUE, are given the task of tracking down the magical artifact, they discover that the culprit may be one of the workers at an archaeological dig at Shady Shores. Is it John Braden, the head archaeologist on-site, who was involved in the original discovery of the spade? Or is it Danny Roget, the anthropologist, who claims that there have been strange sightings? Riley and Jason’s hunt for the spade is endangered by a rash of sudden, unexplainable deaths of people involved in the dig. Together with Cameron Delaney, the intriguing alpha werewolf who runs Cerberus Security, the company in charge of protecting the archaeologists at the dig, Riley and Jason must find the spade before it can be used to destroy the world!

 
 
 
 

Immortality? Now that’s tempting. Throw in an army of the dead, and hey, any evil overlord would kill for that package.

 
When the Homeland Security Service’s Department of Unusual Events, or DUE, assigned my partner, Jason, and me to this case, the file said the spade we’re looking for was valued at eighteen million dollars and belonged to the Peruvian Government. Stolen during shipment from Peru to the local University, the spade was scheduled for study, along with a number of the other artifacts uncovered on a dig site in Peru. According to our file, the HSS believed it had been stolen for financial gain or, perhaps, to cause an international incident. Not our usual type of case, but not unheard of either.
 
What the file didn’t mention was that this wasn’t just any gold spade. This was the Spade of Apocatequil. Peruvian legend has it that anywhere Apocatequil stuck this spade in the ground people sprang up. Now, the spade is believed to grant the holder immortality…

 
 
PURCHASE LINKS – Kindle – Paperback
 
 
(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 
 
We’ve all encountered books that we didn’t 100% love or hate. For me, this is one of them. 
 
Since this story included a demon, were, shifter/empath, I expected more action. More suspense. 
 
Just more. 
 
Let me describe my feelings as such…..
 
Think of the build-up, the excitement you feel when a rollercoaster climbs higher and higher. You can’t wait for the sudden drop. You’ve been waiting for it. The rush it brings you.  
 
Now imagine you get to the peak and instead of the powerful descent, the coaster creeps down the slope. There’s no screaming; arms raised into the air. No, there’s just a slow, easy decline back to ground zero. 
 
There were parts of “Digging of the Past” I found quite enjoyable. Jason, for one, was a very likable demon. I enjoyed how he made assignments fun. Plus, he adored pizza and so do I. Nuff said. 
 
One scene in particular was very humorous. The altercation between Cam and the guard. I guess when dealing with a were, “Sit Fido,” just won’t do. 
 
Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest) 
Score: ❤❤1/2
 

PURCHASE LINKS – Kindle – Paperback

 

 
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I live in Texas with a roommate, two Yellow Labs, a Shepherd/Border Collie mix, and two terrier mixes. The animals were all rescues, and I’m a strong supporter of rescue and the fostering program.

 
I have always been an avid reader of mysteries, fantasies, and romances, and I like being able to combine the three into one story. My full time job is as the Public Information Officer for the local Sheriff’s Office, and I teach English part time at the local Community College.
 
I have a couple of degrees lying around somewhere, and I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. I took time off for work and school, and previously my writing has been more geared toward short stories and academic papers. I have now switched to writing fiction and currently have several more books in the works. 

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