Review request hiatus update

Most of you would already know I’m on review request hiatus.

photo credit: http://flic.kr/p/9g5Gg8

However, I’ve made the decision to maintain this hiatus until 2018 to get through the rest of my backlog.

I’ve currently still got 27 review books (via my blog) and an additional 10 books from NetGalley and ARCs from publishers to get through. The plan is to get through these 37 books by the end of 2017 and have a clean slate for review requests from January 2018.

I’ll still be blogging my reviews (and possibly and article or two) over the next six months so keep your eyes peeled for new content.

‘Til then, happy reading and writing!

2016 Reviews completed!

I’m finally caught up to 2017 reviews… and it’s only July!

In 2016, I read 50 books.

Of those 50, I only rated two books 5 stars. Happily they were both Australian women writers! Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat and The Orchid Nursery by Louise Katz.

The rest of the break down went like this:

• I rated 16 of the books 4/5.
• 23 of them 3/5.
• 7 books got 2/5 stars.
• I rated one book 1/5.
• I couldn’t finish one book.

How did you go in 2016? Are you trying to challenge yourself with a reading challenge this year?

Stay tuned for my 2017 reviews coming soon.

Review: Fox Chase by Jeff Young

Synopsis: Fox Chase- a steampunk short story. There is no polite way to meet over a dead body. But for Kassandra Leyden, who speaks to the dead for a living, these can things happen. Her new acquaintance, Manfred Bremstrung, has one purpose in mind- protect the King’s nephew. Kassandra finds herself working side by side with Bremstrung to protect the young royal against deadly creatures with murderous intent. Sometimes the fox is not the only unfortunate to be hunted.

Review: Un-Conventional

Synopsis: Two nerds at a sci-fi convention make a new friend…

Bookish Things: 8 pages. The cover is simple but eye catching in bright yellow.

Where to buy: Amazon on kindle for $0.97.

My Review: 

Bookshelves: awesome-authors, 4-star-review, aliens, indie-author, sci-fi, smirk-worthy

Recommended for: Sci-fi fans

Well this was a fun little tale. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and even the backstory of a slightly strange sci-fi show with a small but loyal following of fans, even though I’m not a huge sci-fi fan myself.

This was amusing and very enjoyable. If you feel like trying one of Tony’s short stories I would recommend this one.

Review: Time Out

Synopsis: A September 11th firefighter takes a break to tell a stranger about his day…

Bookish Things: 7 pages. The cover doesn’t lend itself to the story that much, but it works.

Where to buy: Amazon on kindle for $0.77.

My Review: 

Bookshelves: awesome-authors, 4-star-review, historical-fiction, indie-author, made-me-think, too-short

Recommended for: Adults – everyone

This was a fantastic short story, full of amazingly well written scenes and just enough information to make the story gut-wrenching.

A little paranormal twist thrown in for good measure and you have yourself a pretty awesome little story.

I would certainly recommend this one.

Review: The Snow Owl

Synopsis: Ben thinks his son’s talk of the magical kingdom of Lukana is just typical childhood imagination. But one winter day, when seven year-old Eric sculpts a snow owl in his backyard, he seems to set in motion events that cannot be anything but magical. Now Ben faces the terrifying prospect of losing his only child to a wintry spirit… a spirit that just might be the boy’s true father.

Bookish Things: 11 pages. I love the cover, those eyes are so intense!

Where to buy: Amazon on kindle for $0.79.

My Review:

Bookshelves: 3-star-review, something-missing, fantasy, indie-author, paranormal, too-short

The Snow Owl is a fantasy/paranormal story that rambles and twists in its writing about a young family who experience a rather interesting event.

I wish there’d been more time to explore the events leading up to the climax, I feel there would have been a greater emotional attachment to the characters. As it stands, this reads well but lacks depth.