Review for "Lichgates"

"Lichgates" is the first novel of S. M. Boyce's "The Grimoire" trilogy.
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The cover is simple almost wistful in its design, harkening back to a different day. Old red leather with darkened streaks of misuse cover the entire front. Red wax or possibly blood mars splashes a lower corner. A large interlocking clover design is centered in rusty gold. This is the Grimoire and as you explore "Lichgates" you will get to know it very well. The cover would be almost perfect for the hardcover version giving you the sense that you own the Grimorie, but as a digital book its a touch lacking and doesn't attract quite enough attention.
We are introduced to Kara Magari, our heroine, as she hikes through the Rocky Mountains. The hike quickly turns from mundane to something out of this world when Kara steps through a small gazebo hidden in the forest. She founds herself in the middle of a powerful electrical storm and seeks shelter behind a strange door carved in the mountainside. Once inside things go from bad to worse when roots suddenly come alive and drag her down into the earth. It is deep down underground where Kara discovers a strange book called the Grimoire. But the Grimoire isn't an ordinary book something Kara quickly finds out when it starts to flip its own pages and the sketches within move. The book tells her that she is now the Vagabond and is part of a whole dangerous and magical world she never even knew existed called Ourea...and she can never go back.

What I liked

• Character development is out of this world! Everyone from Kara to Braeden to Deirdre to the ghost of the original Vagabond have layers and layers of depth, their own pasts, their own problems and vices and strengths.
• The world development is also so amazing. Ourea lives and breaths on every page.
• I'm loving the races of the Yakona and their connection to the elements. Obviously the Hillsidians are earth, the Kirelem are the air, the Losse are water. I can only assume at the moment that the Stele are either fire or darkness (I'm going with darkness) and the Ayavelians are possibly light and the last of the Retrien may very well be fire.
• The isen and the muses are an interesting addition to the storyline and push the story along when it might otherwise falter.
• I love how the Grimoire has a personality all of its own
• The amazing animals that are a part of the world, I'm loving little Flick especially.

What I dislike

• The only thing I can come up with is the box Kara's father mentions. It took so long for Kara to remember it that I actually thought the author had forgotten about it and was beginning to get frustrated with it as a plot device. 
• It ended! and it left my hanging. Forshame. :)

I'm going to gush for a minute. I love love love this book. Its by far and away the best one I've read on the Kindle so far. I can't believe I got this gem for free. As soon as I finished it I hurried back to Amazon to see if the sequel was out yet. It is and I'm going to purchase it sometime this week. "Treason" is the second book in the trilogy and is available for $2.99. At the time of this review "Lichgates" is available for $2.99 as well. It is definitely worth the purchase. It would still be well worth it if were twice that much. You have to stop by the authors website as it is amazing full of intricate details, sketches, and so much more, http://www.thegrimoirebooks.com/. The back of the book even suggests you can get your own clover pendant. Which I have to admit would be kinda cool.

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5 out of 5 smilies 

I loved this book so much I'm inclined to recommend it to anyone and everyone but I do feel like a little bit of the subject matter particularly the loss of Kara's parents would be too sensitive for the really young audience. So I'm going to say mature older kids all the way up to adults. Its a perfect read for those who love a good epic fantasy as well as a finding your place in the world journey.

Synopsis: "The Grimoire turns its own pages and can answer any question asked of it, and Kara Magari is its next target.
Kara has no idea what she's getting herself into when she stumbles across the old book while hiking a hidden trail. Once she opens it, she's thrown into Ourea: a beautiful world full of terrifying things that want the Grimoire's secrets. Everyone in this new world is trying to find her, and most want to control the new-found power the book bestows upon her. Even if Kara does escape, Ourea will only drag her back.
Braeden Drakonin grew up in Ourea, and all he’s ever known of life is lying. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. He has one question to ask the book—one question that can fix everything in his broken world—and he’s not letting Kara out of his sight until he gets an answer.
There’s no going back now."

Review for "Chasing the Bard"

"Chasing the Bard" is the first in Philippa Ballantine's series the Fey with Us.
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This is another book whose cover art has apparently changed since I first got it for my Kindle. The first cover and the one I am most familiar is the one I'm going to describe. The cover frames the portrait of a beautiful young woman. Her dark almost blue black hair cascades in waves down across tanned skinned. Dark lips are curved up in a knowing smirk. Blue tattoos crisscross her skin, tiger stripes across her collarbone and tribal-type markings dripping down her forehead and across the bridge of her nose. Her eyes are a brilliant blue color. Leaves surrounded her head like a crown. The title stretches across the top red with gilded edges, little droplets of gold come down from the corners culmulating in blue and red orbs. For some reason it reminds of me a jester's hat. The cover is beautiful but directly seems to contradict the storyline and the character it is surely meant to mimic, Sive.
Chasing the Bard's story opens as the ancient Puck enters the human world. Puck is a fey creature often known throughout myth as the Trickster. We learn through Puck that his magic is called Art. As Puck meanders through the wood enjoying his freedom he notices a peculiar human woman. Her back is hunched with age as she walks through the forest on a mission. Puck unable to resist himself follows the wise woman through the woods and into the village of Stratford. This was my first clue as to what was coming and I admit I groaned inwardly. The curious fey follows the woman through the town til he is frightened back through the veil by a strange blinding conflagration of Art among the humans. As he disappears the old woman, Bess, continues into the house where a young woman is in the throes of birth. Bess is a midwife called in this time of need.  Here the story diverges into the fairy world. A shimmering banquet hall filled with otherworldly beauty is abruptly disrupted by the sudden appearance of a dark fierce warrior goddess. The goddess is Sive, dark fairy of battle and war, and she is angry with her brother Auberon, King of the Fey, for forcing her into marriage with a fey man she once loved but has somehow changed. But her anger doesn't change his mind and she retreats to her aunt Brigit's home to sulk. It is here Sive mets up with Puck and discovers the happenings of the mortal world and the child who will save them both.

What I liked:

•  I loved the character of Puck and found him very likeable and enjoyable. Brigit was a wonderful wise strong character. 
• The author took the time to paint every scene in both the mortal and fairy worlds
• Mordant's character though evil to the bone also had enough depth to him that made me feel sorry for him, which is slightly unusual.
• It was a novel take on an old tale melding the historical with the fantastical in a way that made it feel possible.
• Macha...the battle raven...if you know celtic/fey myth you know its enough.

What I disliked

• The story jumped from place to place, character to character, sometimes without proper formatting notice or even a clear shift in voice.
• It was about William Shakespeare which for some reason kinda turned me off it. They barely even gave a nod to the work of A Midsummer's Nights Dream which considering some of the character should have been more in the forefront.
• The two main characters of Will and Sive were largely unlikeable due to their sudden conflicted emotions and inability to think past their own motives for the majority of the book. 
• Towards the end of the book the story felt rushed. For instance there were a few confusing lines that it made it seem that Mordant had possessed the Lord of Southampton and then others that contradicted this thought process. And as evil as Mordant was it barely gave much thought to his ending at all, it was almost anti-climatic.
• There were quite a few formatting, spelling, and even usage errors that definitely pulled you out of the story a bit.
• The end is a little hazy. Did Will return to Sive's world or go someplace else?
• Throughout several scenes I couldn't get the characters from the movie Anonymous out of mind. This certainly isn't a fault of the authors but it still did mess with my reading experience. 

"Chasing the Bard" was all and all an entertaining read. At the time of this review it is still available for free and as such is definitely worth getting.The second book in the series is "Digital Magic" and it is available for $3.99 You can find out more about the author and the book at the website www.pjballantine.com
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4 out of 5 smilies
Recommended for those who enjoy fairy mythology and/or Shakespeare but don't take it too seriously. Due to a few more mature scenes I would put it at a mature tween and older.

Synopsis "Sive, the goddess of battle, hopes that William Shakespeare may be able to change the fate of her people. The Fey are dying, killed by something beyond the boundaries of worlds. But a dark power imprisoned by human and Fey, plots to destroy both worlds, and unmake all that they have created. "
Can the magic of word and imagination save creation?

Review for "Branded"

"Branded" is the first novel in the "Fall of Angels" series by author Keary Taylor.
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The cover is dark. A pale skinned woman stands in the darkness with her back turned to the viewer. She is pulling the dark mess of her hair away from shoulders and back revealing the raised white scars that crisscross her neck and back. You feel a sense of sadness emanating from the woman even through the pretty scroll work of the title is just above her head.  *Note* It appears that the cover has been changed since I purchased this book. The new cover is similar but much brighter.
"Branded" is told through the voice of Jessica Bailey our main character. The scene opens at night on a lakeside dock. Jessica paces struggling to stay awake. We feel her very real feel, the fear of what happens when she falls asleep. We see Jessica's obsessive-compulsive counting as a way to cope with the frightening path her life has taken. She counts the hours she'd been awake, she counts her steps as she paces, she counts the time it takes for the angels to come get her. When she sleeps Jessica is taken to an otherwordly place, a place where she is caged, bound, tortured, judged, and finally branded by magnificent beings that cruelly resemble angels.

What I liked about the book:

• Jessica is a wonderfully detailed character. I loved the addition of her obsessive-compulsive counting as a way to cope. I love how she takes care of Sal.
• Sal was also a wonderfully detailed character with a rich backstory.
• The dream scenes are perfectly detailed and feel very real.
• For the most part all of the characters act in a completely believable manner.

What I disliked:

• Unfortunately there seemed to be alot of rehashing over and over again. The author describes the same scene and the same characters repeatedly in the same manner again and again without adding anything to the story.
• There were a few proofreading errors but mostly I noticed a limited vocabulary in some areas where again the same words were repeated sometimes several times on the same page.
• No surprises. I mean come on I figured out why the leader of the condemned went missing immediately, why Sal od'ed, what was happening to Jessica as soon as she talked to her father, and what Alex had in mind that night in Seattle. I was just sitting there in limbo wondering why in the world Jessica couldn't figure out what was so obvious to me. 
• The quickly developing relationship between Alex and Jessica did seem a little unlikely.

All and all I really enjoyed 'Branded' and am looking into getting the successive books from the series. At the time of this review you can get "Branded" for free for your Kindle (with the new cover I might add). The successive books are Forsaken $3.99, Vindicated $4.99, and a standalone related novella Afterlife $1.99. If you would like to find out more information about the book and its author please visit the author's official website www.kearytaylor.com.
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4 out of 5 smilies
Recommended for those who would like a new take on angels, a plucky if troubled heroine, and an even-keeled romance. Suitable for young adults and adults alike.
Synopsis: "Jessica’s had the nightmares for as long as she can remember. Nightmares of being judged for people who have died, of being branded by the angels. Her friends and family think she’s a crazy because of it all. Yet she carries the mark of the condemned, seared into the back of her neck, and hides it and herself away from the world.
But when two men she can’t ignore enter her life everything changes, including the nightmares. The two of them couldn’t be more different. She will do anything to be with one of them. Even tell him the truth about angels, why she never sleeps, and the scar on the back of her neck. But one of the two has set events into motion what will pull her toward her own judgment and turn her into the object of her greatest fear."

Review for "Reckless Magic"

"Reckless Magic" is the first book in Rachel Higginson's "Star-Crossed series." To date the series is made up of four books.
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The simplistic cover is a wash of watercolor blue. There are darker shades of blue criss-crossing the cover coming in from the corners; abstract tree trunks and branches. In the center of the page a crescent moon hovers over what looks like white cherry blossoms  which might possibly be pear blossoms instead. The words Reckless Magic looking slightly rough around the edges is layered on top of the blossoms. The cover is hardly impressive and does nothing to build my desire to read the story it hides. It honestly screams self-published which while nothing to be ashamed of (I'm self published myself remember) does little to instill a sense of confidence in the work from the reader's standpoint. In the author's shoes I might invest a little more in artwork.
"Reckless Magic" starts with a prologue introducing us to a world of magic and intrigue. Twins are separated from birth in an attempt to save them from whatever is hunting their parents. The boy goes with a violet eyed aged woman named Angelica and the girl stays with the dark haunted man Amory. The story jumps forward and we meet Eden Matthews, our heroine. She's deeply troubled struggling with supernatural powers she can't even begin to understand. Terrified of herself and what she might do at any moment her last chance at a normal life is the prep school Kingsley. But Kingsley brings its own unique set of challenges including a young boy named Kiran who she feels inexplicably drawn to. But nothing is what it seems not Eden, not Kiran, and definitely not Kingsley.

What I liked:

• The story line was pretty good and rarely slowed to the point of disintrest.
• The battle scene was great, its a pity there was really only one.
• I giggled a couple of times at the porn star teacher reference.

What I didn't like:

•  Technically there were still several proofreading errors most of them weren't too bad but a couple were a little more jarring
• The author overused certain terms and indeed certain situations repeatedly. For instance the 'electricity' in Eden's veins
• I can't imagine that even given the problems she was going through at the time that Eden really wouldn't have noticed someone magically picking up their pencil or reading her mind or closing a door. Could she be that self absorbed?
• She keeps forgetting about her magic putting herself in stupid situations that she could easily remedy. If you had just discovered your magic how easily would you forget?
• Except for the grandfather thing there were absolutely no surprises. I spent the majority of the time wishing that Eden would just figure it out instead of putting herself in incredibly stupid situations repeatedly. 
• The voice and tone of the entire book was rather immature. 
• I can't help but think if Amory had just raised her to begin with or sent her with someone other than a human or even a human that would tell her about her heritage; as they had done with Avalon that life for Eden would have been considerably easier. Or if once they knew she was getting her powers he'd just sat her down and explained the whole thing. Really it should have only took one prep school for that happen.

 The plot line was interesting enough that I looked into the next books in the series. I would actually like to know if she ever figures out the Oracle thing, if their parents are alive, if there's anything else Amory has been hiding from her, and if Kiran is truly a good guy or a bad guy. At the time of this review "Reckless Magic" is available for Kindle for free. The subsequent books in the series are not free. Hopeless Magic at $2.99 ;  Fearless Magic at $3.99; and Endless Magic at $4.99. Since "Reckless Magic" just barely squeaked by, I'm not going to get the others unless they come up for free. I couldn't find Rachel Higginson's website.
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3 out of 5 smilies
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone other than teen readers. I don't think very many adults would enjoy the writing style.

Synopsis: "16 year old Eden Matthews has been in and out of private schools for the last two years. She can't seem to stop herself from closing them down. Kingsley is her last chance to finish high school and the last private school willing to accept her.
She is focused on just getting through graduation until she realizes Kingsley is not like the other private schools she's been to. The students may be different, but so is she. And after meeting Kiran Kendrick, the boy who won't leave her alone and seems to be the source of all her problems, she is suddenly in a world that feels more make-believe than reality.
To top it off, she is being hunted by men who want to kill Kiran and her best friend Lilly is taken away to a foreign prison. Eden finds herself right in the middle of an ancient war, threatening everything she loves. She alone has to find a way to save her best friend and the boy who has captivated her heart.
Reckless Magic is an intricate story about mystery, adventure, magic and forbidden love. Eden Matthews is an unlikely heroine determined to save the world and be with her one, true love before it's too late."

Review for "Witch Song"

 "Witch Song" is the debut novel of author Amber Argyle.
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Golden but still managing a gothic air the cover of "Witch Song" is absolutely gorgeous. A young woman stands in front of a sheath of oxidized gold, her pale face framed by curves of blonde locks and the dark shadows of grasping branches.Bright amber doey eyes stare out at the reader daring and welcoming all at the same time. Her pink tinged lips are drawn up into a pout almost as if at any moment she will speak. At her neck more gold sparkles, a spherical necklace glowing in the shadows that linger at the bottom of the page. Check out the graphics on the author's main webpage for a breathtaking view of the cover up close and in a higher definition.
"Witch Song" is actually the first book I got for my Kindle. I'm not sure why I waited to read it instead of gobbling it up all at once. I guess I got caught up with getting as many free good looking books as possible and then forgot the one that first pulled me in. At any rate I have to say that "Witch Song" is an absolutely great read. I couldn't put it down and wound up finishing it in about a day.
The story of "Witch Song" follows a young girl named Brusenna. It opens in a medieval marketplace where young Brusenna is doing her shopping. Within the first page we learn that Brusenna is an outcast, feared and hated by the villagers. When a mysterious woman saves her from the torment of the townspeople, Brusenna's world is turned upside down. She learns that her mother has been hiding her away from the community of witches, desperately hoping to keep them both safe from their war. A war that affects the whole planet because witches are the ones that keep the world in balance and without their benevolent guiding witchsong the world is going to pot. Her mother follows the stranger leaving Brusenna to fend for herself. When her mother doesn't return home, Brusenna is forced from her home with only her trusted dog Bruke as a companion in a life or death fight against the most powerful witch ever, Espen.

What I loved about the book:

• Honestly I loved almost everything about this book from the setting to the wonderful writing to the character development. Its easy to identify with Brusenna and Joshen. The two young people searching for their place in the world, a way to save it and each other.
• The implementation of the magic in this book through song is brilliant, memorable, and not overly done.
• The witches as safeguards for the earth, appointed as guardians by the four goddesses or creators. 
• The romance that blooms in its own time between Brusenna and Joshen. It never feels forced or used for shock value like in many novels and it doesn't become the end all consuming romance leaving the plot to really shine.
• Bruke, I mean who doesn't love the faithful dog.

What I didn't like:

• There's not much...But I didn't like Brusenna's full name. For some reason even in my head it just doesn't flow. But it seems the author figured this out because midway through she becomes Senna. Which is much more palatable. 
• I kept expecting time and time again for Bruke's part in the story to expand for it to be revealed that he was more than a simple dog. There were at least a half a dozen times that the story seemed to gear up for the announcement and then it just didn't happen. I was a little disappointed in that.

• Wardof and Garg. Besides Wardof being blatantly evil and twisted their final confrontation was actually a little anti-climatic. I couldn't help but think how much simpler it would have been if she'd just dispatched them first time around if it was going to be that easy. 

As I said before this was a wonderful work and well worth the read. I enjoyed it immensely. I'm hoping that the author might write another book in this world if not about Senna and Joshen then about any of the witches of Haven. At the time of this review you can get "Witch Song" for the Kindle for $4.49 and its worth every penny. You can find more information about "Witch Song" and its author Amber Argyle at the official website www.amberargyle.com

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5 out of 5 Smilies

Recommended to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy or a story about witches, magic, or plucky young heroes. Suitable for mature young readers and adults alike.

Synopsis: 

"The world is changing. For thousands of years, witch song has controlled everything from the winds to the shifting of the seasons. But not anymore. All the Witches are gone, taken captive by the dark Witch, Espen.
As the last echoes of witch song fade, Espen grows stronger as winter and summer come within the space of a day. Now she's coming for the one she missed—a shy, untrained girl of fifteen named Brusenna.
Somehow, Brusenna has to succeed where every other Witch has failed. Find Espen. Fight her. Defeat her.
Or there won't be anything left to save."