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**

Review: Fractured Angel

Read from January 20-29th, 2017

Synopsis: How would you go about trying to help your daughter who, suffering her first psychotic break at fifteen, is chased by her wounded mind to the streets of Santa Barbara? That is the dilemma that Lynne Swanson faces. Out of her element, and definitely out of her comfort zone for this professional woman, she is forced to seek the help of Kerry Wilson, a social worker for the homeless. Unfortunately for her, Kerry is a rough-necked loner that has no inclination to hold the hand of a woman who he feels is out for a lark at the expense of his homeless clients. The harsh and deadly realities of the streets in one of the wealthiest cities in the world and an attempt to close a homeless shelter just as winter sets in produces a dramatic race against time with the life of Lynne’s daughter in the balance.

Review: Nocturnal Voyeur Series

Read from January 17-18th, 2017. Recommended for: dark paranormal erotica lovers

Synopsis: Fiona had resisted giving in to her nightly sexual fantasy of an amorphous shadowy lover. But not tonight. What she finds on the other side of waking changes everything. A dream is not always just a dream.

Touched by nightmare, Fiona discovers her own power, an insight into the sexual fantasy worlds of others.

Can she learn what it means and to control it before it controls her?

Will her monstrous paramour return and want more?

Can Fiona find a way to keep her sanity?

Maybe if she could only find someone who understood the dream realm, someone who could teach and protect her…