Key the Steampunk Vampire and the Dungeon of Despair (by Becket)

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Early Readers / First Chapter Books

On her 9th birthday, just as she was about to cut her cake, Key and her family were visited by an evil vampire and his two zombie henchmen. What should have been the happiest day of her life quickly turned into the saddest night.

She is made into a vampire, her parents have disappeared and might have been done in by the zombies, and to top it all off she is thrown into the Dungeon of Despair and quickly forgotten. As she lives her unlife in despair, the years, decades and centuries pass by. But she still manages to find small things to cheer herself even while she is chained in the dungeon.

 

Key the Steampunk Vampire Girl and the Dungeon of Despair is a great book for early readers and children who are just venturing into chapter books. It is wonderfully illustrated, the story is fun and even this 45 year old found it quite entertaining.

It would be a great book to give to children who find reading challenging.

(illustrated by Raven Quinn)

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Until the End of the World / And After (by Sarah Lyons Fleming)

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Zombie Apocalypse 

I’ve read a few zombie novels, and this is one of them.

Honestly, you could take the synopsis from any of them and switch it seamlessly into any of the others. Pretty much the same things happen in them all.

So quickly…there’s a virus, looters, they escape the city. Head to the farm, meet some bad guys, get over-run by zombies. Make their way to a fort, go to walmart, get over-run by a tsunami of zombies. Head into the wilderness. As expected along the way there is a lot of crunching, squishing and exploding brains. A few loved characters bite the bullet but a motley group
manage to escape and drive off into the sunset.

Maybe I read too much into these books but I grew up when people routinely talked about being “over-run” by immigrants of one persuasion or another. This book has the tsunami of zombies coming from the south…err Mexico, and when I read that sort of stuff I cringe a little. I don’t think it’s deliberate but it’s overt enough that I always notice it and draw those parallels.

That said, the books are entertaining enough even if they’re not all that original.

Note:  These two books work well together.  You could read them and walk away without any trouble.  That said, there is a third book coming out in early 2015.  

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The Girl and the Clockwork Cat (by Nikki McCormack)

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Steam Punk / Young Adult

When Maeko finds a clockwork cat while running from Literati Officers she finds herself caught in the middle of political machinations between the ruling elite and the pirates who oppose them. When the wife and child of a famous inventor are murdered, the blame immediately falls on the pirates but with detectives, assassins, businessmen, literati and pirates all pushing their own agenda it’s hard knowing who is on her side and who will be the death of her.

She enlists the help of her partner in crime, Chaff, and the son of a pirate, Ash as she tries to find the murderer and save the day.

 
The Girl and the Clockwork Cat really is proper steam-punk. It’s complex and gritty and highly entertaining. I can’t really fault this book in any way.

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Montana Romance Novellas (by Merry Farmer)

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1. Sarah Sunshine

After working as a prostitute to pay off her debts, Sarah is now free and determined to live a respectable life.  With an indefatigable spirit and a little help from her friends she might just succeed, but there are those in town who are all too willing to judge her for her past.

 

 

2. The Indomitable Eve

After escaping her mother who sold her to men for sex, Eve has finally been reunited with her sister.  But her sister has everything Eve wants but can never have and running is the only way she can protect her heart.  Until the town preacher manages to get past the walls she has built to protect heart and finds a woman he loves.

 

 

3. Seeks For Her

After divorcing her violent and abusive husband, Rebecca expects little more than to live for her children.  When the town’s pond is threatened she joins forces with Thomas, a Native American doctor to save it.  Together they battle against small minds and prejudice even as they battle their attraction.

 

 

These three novellas were given to me by the author’s publicist for review.  The writing style reminded me a little of Christian romance –– and then the sex started.  I nearly fell off my chair!

Still I dusted myself off and continued with the novellas and after throwing out all my previously held notions started to enjoy the books.  They really are kind of perfect short Christmas / Holiday reads, quick and easy and not too taxing.

Screen Shot 2014-02-27 at 9.23.18 pmMany thanks to Badass Marketing for providing me with these review copies.

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2014 Best Five.

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These are my best five books for 2014 (all published from December 2013 to November 2014).

1. Wildfire (by Mary Pauline Lowry)

It’s gritty and in your face. The story of a woman who joins an elite hot-shots team of remote area fire fighters.

Fiction / Adventure

 

 

 

2. The One Plus One (by Jojo Moyes)

The story of a single mother who is struggling to do the best for her children, her children who are struggling with bullying, and a man who is being investigated for insider trading.

Women’s Fiction / Romance

 

 

3. More to Give (by Terri Osburn)

The best man for the job is a woman…but unless someone gives her a chance she might end up back living with her mother.  Terri Osburn writes some of the best contemporary romance going around.

Contemporary Romance

 

The Dukes Holiday (by Maggie Fenton)

A stuck up duke battling wits with a woman who wrestles pigs.  A complete romp from beginning to end.

Regency Romance

 

 

Without Words (by Ellen O’Connell)

Ellen O’Connell somehow manages to write Western Romances that are proper romances but also have a believable realness to them. She’s a favorite author and her books are game changers in that they have the potential to bring new readers to the genre.

Western Romance

 

 

So that’s my list.  What have been your best books of the year?

 

 

A Trail Through Time (by Jodi Taylor)

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Science Fiction / Time Travel

Leon and Max both died. And now they’re both back. In this episode they must do battle with brutal time police who are hunting them down for messing with the time line in a St Mary’s of an alternate dimension.

You know how sometimes day-time soap operas kill off a character and then six months later their identical twin brother shows up, usually to do a little ratings CPR…well to be honest this book really feels like that. It’s still quite good though.

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Black Widow (by Jennifer Estep)

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Urban Fantasy

When Gin finally killed Mab Monroe she thought her life would get easier. Unfortunately since that day, every single gangster in Ashland has been out to make a name for themselves by taking her out. That is until Madeline Monroe (Mab’s estranged daughter) shows up.

She’s a powerful acid elemental and she’s decided to take over her mother’s empire, but first she needs to take care of business, and that includes getting rid of Gin and all her friends.

She’s one of the most powerful elementals Gin has ever faced and her acid magic can burn right through Gin’s ice and stone magic.

 
This series had a bit of a shaky start for me –– I wasn’t expecting to be reading book twelve, to be honest I considered walking away from the series after the final showdown with Mab. But I’m glad I continued. The last three or four books have been the best of them all and the series has very much found it’s groove.

The only thing that really didn’t work for me in this book was the romance. I want it to be there, just not necessarily on the page –– and that’s coming from a romance reader. Still that’s such a small part of the story and it’s done and dusted in ten minutes.

Everything else is kind of perfect. It delivers everything I expect from urban fantasy.  And as usual the cover art is sublime!  Whoever is creating these covers needs to be paid more.

Screen Shot 2014-11-24 at 6.21.53 pmMany thanks to Pocket Books and Edelweiss for providing me with this ARC

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The Void (by J.D. Horn)

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Urban Fantasy

Book three and the conclusion to the Witching Savannah series has Mercy Taylor and her family continuing their battle against the foes arrayed against them. After Mercy diminished their powers in book two, The Source, the other anchors have turned against her. Adding to her problems a witch has been using blood magic in her home city of Savannah and it seems she is the target.

With the final battle approaching her friends are dropping like flies and it’s possible the ultimate target is not just her, but her unborn child.

 
There really is a lot going on in The Void and this book should not be attempted if you haven’t read the first two in the series. You just won’t get it. Personally I think a little too much was going on and the book would have been better served with a simpler story that didn’t feel the need to tie up every loose end. It wasn’t bad, but the first two books were outstanding and I was expecting a lot more from this.

Screen Shot 2014-02-27 at 9.12.41 pmMany thanks to 47North and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

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Dreamer’s Pool (by Juliet Marillier)

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Fantasy

Blackthorn has been languishing in a dungeon after exposing the brutal crimes committed by her chieftain. While in prison she has lived for the day when she will be able to stand up and tell her story. But on the very eve of her day, she learns she is to be killed before she can talk.

A Fae visits her during the night and offers her a deal. He will help her escape but in return she must travel north to Dalriada, to use her powers as a healer only to help and she must never refuse a plea for help.

When one of her fellow prisoners, Grim joins her, she wants nothing to do with him, until she realises his following her is a plea from someone who is every bit as damaged as she. So Blackthorn and Grim travel north and settle into a derelict cottage on the edge of an enchanted forest.  Despite her obvious bitterness and anger, Blackthorn soon find herself helping the poor folk of the area with their ailments while Grim works odd jobs as a farm labourer.

But when the Prince of Dalriada asks for Blackthorn’s help, she struggles with her antipathy for men in general and especially men in positions of power.

Dreamer’s Pool is pretty good fantasy. I love the story. I love Blackthorn and Grim. I love the town’s folk.  I struggled with the multiple points of view. They really weren’t working. If it was just Grim and Blackthorn it might have worked, but having that third POV of Prince Oran made the story just a little unwieldy.  That said, I still enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing the series progress.

Oh. Just one more thing. The official synopsis for this book has a fairly major spoiler.  Someone at the publisher really needs a lesson in not giving stuff away.

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Big Little Lies (by Liane Moriarty)

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Mystery 

Big Little Lies starts with a school trivia night and a murder. Then we return to the beginning of the school year, four months earlier, to the events that lead to it.

When Jane moves to the quiet beach side suburb of Pirriwee, it’s not just a fresh start for her, it’s the end of her running from the past.  Her son Ziggy is enrolled in kindergarten at Pirriwee Public School and when she meets another kindergarten mother, Madeleine, things seem to be looking up for her.

Then before the day is finished, one of the girls in Ziggy’s class accuses him of bullying her and all at once the promising start evaporates.  Instantly the other kindergarten mothers ostracise her and Ziggy and as the term progresses things only get worse.  The mothers  are suddenly divided into two camps.  The Madeleine camp who are on Jane’s side and the Renata camp who are against her.

As the term progresses clues are given about dark secrets that are hidden behind the closed doors of seemingly happy and perfect families and as the school trivia night approaches we not only find ourselves puzzling out who committed the murder, we are also trying to figure out who was murdered.

 

I really enjoyed this book.  It’s not perfect, I think the excerpts from police interviews that start each chapter are a little over-done and the conclusion wasn’t as satisfying as I hoped, but the book is overall quite good and those criticisms are really very minor things in what is a unique and entertaining mystery.

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