Review: This is Who I Am

 

Read from March 2-4, 2017

Synopsis: When trying to save a woman from slavers, Sam screwed up. Royally. Now Linda wants nothing to do with him. Or with BDSM. She won’t even admit she’s a masochist. As a dominant and sadist, he can give her what she needs, and when an opportunity arises, he slips into her life, intending to make amends. She’s everything he knew she would be…except for her bullheaded determination to be ‘normal’.

Now the horrible time is past, Linda just wants to return to her small conservative town, pick up her quiet life, and be normal. But how can someone who likes pain be ‘normal’? To her dismay, when someone spray-paints her home with obscenities, Sam shows up to rescue her. Again. Doesn’t he understand that the last thing she needs in her life is a sadist? He’s amused by her objections. But his dry sense of humor can’t disguise that he’s tough as nails and dominant and stubborn. He’s not going to let her drive him off this time. Soon she realizes she wants him to stay.

When he takes her to the Shadowlands, she feels as if she’s found a home…until she hears a voice from out of her nightmares.

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Review: The Shadows

Read from February 23rd – March 1, 2017

Synopsis: Grace Knox is about to turn seventeen, and the world of Victorian New York society should be opening to her—a time of dances and parties and boys vying for her heart and her hand. Instead, Grace’s world is closing in: the family business is gone; her brother is drinking and gambling away whatever is left; her widowed mother cannot cope; and her grandmother is slipping into madness. And now Grace is having disturbing dreams of ancient battles.

Grace’s only hope is to marry Patrick Devlin and let his fortune save them all. But she isn’t sure she loves Patrick, and she doesn’t share his passion to free Ireland from British rule. Why look to Ireland when there is so much poverty and despair here?

Then Grace meets Diarmid, an Irish stableboy. Being with him means losing everything. But the secrets and mystery surrounding him are too compelling to ignore. Soon Grace is drawn into his world of legend and heroes, magic and prophecy—the world of her dreams—where her own choice between faith and fear holds the greatest power of all.

AWW Review: Worlds Within Worlds

Read from February 16-20th, 2017.

Synopsis: ‘The barrier between the worlds shatters like the window. The beast is loose. My nightmare has become real. The guy has totally lost it. If he finds us here, we could die. No, I don’t doubt it; we will die.’

Author and editor Prunella Smith inhabits a multilayered reality. Physically, she lives in the Australian bush with her crazy cat Merlin. In her work world, she edits the love story of Kelee, a Magan Lord’s daughter, and in the cyber-world of social media, she’s subjected to slanderous attacks by a disgruntled author. To complicate matters further she sees things through the eyes of a Tibetan Yogi, has strange dreams and relives old memories.

Separate worlds, interconnected and complementary, but can they help when Prunella becomes victim to a real life stalker and her sanity is threatened?

Worlds Within Worlds has a unique perspective on the nature of creativity. Its touch is light, its humour distinctive but it reaches deep into the nature of human experience.

This book has won an AIA Seal of Excellence.

Review: The Mansion’s Twins

Read from February 7th-15th, 2017.

Synopsis: Ellie and Savannah Senka, fourteen year old twins, ran away from their unhappy homes, thinking they’d return after a brief adventure. Together, they journey to another world. The new world is full of magic, but though it was once beautiful, it is damaged, unbalanced, and dangerous after a terrible storm. Ellie and Savannah may be the only ones with the power to restore the world to its original state, for the magic of twins is rare and powerful. The girls are welcomed into a grand mansion, the safest place in the aftermath of the storm. There, they learn who they are, and what they have to do. To restore the world, they must travel through the mansion to the center of magic and reset the balance. They discover their own magical abilities, find joy and friendship in the mansion’s family, and face the dangers of the storm’s left-behind magic. The journey to the center of magic is full of twists and turns, magic and excitement. Ellie and Savannah support each other to overcome obstacles along the way, knowing the whole world is depending on them.

Review: The Nameless One

Read on February 3rd, 2017.

Synopsis: An erotic horror short story…
Sometimes revenge can only be achieved with magic.
Laura and Julian Bennet were husband and wife Egyptologists who were looking for an ancient tomb of a lost pharaoh’s lesser wife…one who’d been so evil and destructive her grave has no name; she has no name. Legend and rumors said she’d been a stunningly beautiful and sensual sorceress who’d once had her lover, Rameses II, under her evil spell until the more powerful Priests of Amun captured and locked her into a magical sarcophagus for eternity–or so they’d believed. But when Laura and Julian found her tomb, the price it cost them was far more than they’d been prepared to pay. Julian’s life. Then Laura, heartbroken, had to delve into the most dangerous of black magics to defeat The Nameless One, extract revenge, and put the demon back where she belongs.

Bookish Things: 31 pages. The cover is adequate, not the most stunning, but not the worst I’ve seen. Apt for the story.

Where to buy: Amazon on kindle for $3.33.

My Review: 

Bookshelves: blog-review-req, erotica, indie-author, indie-review-copies, a-z-challenge-2017, horror, 3-star-review, paranormal, too-short

The Nameless One is a short horror story set in Egypt. It follows husband and wife, Laura and Julian Bennet, who are Egyptologists looking for an elusive tomb.

The book blurb leaves little left to explore when you actually read the book, but given its length, that’s not entirely unexpected.

The pace felt a little fast, some of the richness of Egypt missing because of this and the writing style. There wasn’t a lot of time given to building up the world around Laura and Julian, which I felt was quite a shame.

If given a bit more sensory information, this story could have been very creepy and horrific.

This is marketed as an erotic horror, but the erotic content is very light on and no great detail was given. The opportunity for exploring the erotic nature of the idea in this book was missed almost entirely, which was a shame.

Overall, this read well, if a little clipped, had a reasonable plot and had the beginnings of a good story with likeable characters. I only wish we were given more.

**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

AWW Review: Leap of Faith

 

Read from January 29th – February 2nd, 2017. Recommended for: Horsey people

Synopsis: The highly anticipated new novel from beloved Australian writer Fiona McCallum.

Jessica Harrington is a promising horse-rider who dreams of representing her country. But the recent death of her father – her coach and mentor – has left her doubting her ability to continue in the sport. When she fails at the Adelaide International Horse Trials her fears are confirmed – and her world begins to fall apart.

Unable to bear seeing her well-bred, highly trained horses languishing in the paddock, she makes the snap decision to sell. She’s broken her own heart, but can’t see any other way – now she will just have to focus on a life without them. Her husband Steve and best friend Tiffany, however, can see through her bravado.

Jessica is dismayed when Steve brings home a horse from a clearing sale, a horse so skinny and forlorn he just couldn’t leave it behind. Unwilling to be drawn back into the world of horses, she’s reluctant to get involved. But when a summer thunderstorm brings on a life-or-death emergency, she finds she underestimated the heart of one little horse. Can Jessica put her trust in Faith?