Fanged Series

Tags

Book Reviews, Book Series, Indie Author, Paranormal, Self Published Book, Young Adult

Title & Author: Fanged (Book One) & Fanged Outcast (Book Two), Elisabeth Wheatley

Genre & Publication Date: YA Paranormal, Nov. 26, 2013 (bk 1), Dec. 3, 2013 (bk 2)

Book Description: From Book One: “Family dating rules were pretty clear—no humans. But the undead heart wants what it wants and Haddie’s high school boyfriend ended up dead because of it. Now her brother Damian is repeating history and the same fate’s lined up for a very non-vampire, Madelyn.

With the girl’s throat on the line, they don’t have many options. Soon all three of them are on the run. Hunted across country by dear old dad’s enforcers, they’ll need help from the humans who hate them most. Assuming they all live that long.”

First Line: “Are you here to kill her?”

My Take: This book was provided to me by the author for review.

It has been a while since I’ve gotten into a novella series. The last one was the Flash Gold series by Lindsay Buroker (go read that by the way). It’s also been a while since I’ve delved into the world of vampires and I’m reminded now why I love them.

Haddie, the book’s lead and the voice of the first-person narrative, was easy to sympathize with and admire. When her baby brother makes the same mistake she did (falling in love with a human), she makes it her mission to save him from the pain and grief she went through. No waffling. No should-I-or-shouldn’t-I. Her brother has her loyalty and her protection without question, even if she does think he’s an idiot. I loved her voice: wry, world-weary, yet somehow hopeful and fiercely determined despite it all.

Did I mention she’s pretty kick-ass? No really, she literally kicks ass. You might think, yeah, yeah, that’s always the case with YA, but it was handled well here and included doses of reality. You get knocked around in a fight, you make mistakes, and hey, sometimes you even lose. It made the action more intense and the outcomes more meaningful. And there was never a dull moment in these two installments!

The Magical: Besides the awesome heroine, there are hints at a huge fantastical world of supernatural beings that exist unbeknownst to humans. Different clans of creatures with their own borders, cultures, and protocols–and histories between them. Can’t wait to see where this leads!

The Mundane: The bad guys seemed a little one note. I wished the rule behind ‘no dating humans’ had more depth than ‘no playing with the food’, especially given the consequences. Didn’t bother me while reading.

Summary of Thoughts: Book one of the series is FREE on Amazon. A nice YA twist on the vampire legend and definitely recommended. I loved that these installments center around Haddie’s love for her brother. There’s the potential for something romantic down the line (an enemies to friends thing which I adore) but it’s not the focal point. This is about a brother and sister whose loyalty to each other transcends sibling annoyances and disagreements. Refreshing, heartwarming in a gut-wrenching way, and a ton of fun to read.

Many thanks to the author for providing a copy of the book to review!

Curious what others thought? Check out Amazon’s reviews here

Want to know more about the author and her work? Explore her website here

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Red Shift (Syzygy Book Five)

Tags

Cli-Fi, Indie Author, Science-Fiction, Self Published Book, Young Adult

Title & Author: Red Shift (Syzygy: Book 5), J. K. Ullrich

Genre & Publication Date: Sci-Fi/Cli-Fi, October 17, 2017

Book Description: WARNING: As this is book five, read the description with caution if you haven’t read the first four books. REMINDER: Book One is FREE

“In the fifth installment of the “Syzygy” hexalogy, the long-divided clans of lunar survivors reconnect at last, but a century of distrust isn’t easily overcome. Determined to forge an alliance between their fractious communities, Ash and Skye undertake a second Earth mission. Old enemies and new revelations await them. As dark truths about the past threaten humanity’s fragile chances for the future, only Ash and Skye’s evolving partnership can unite the survivors…if it can withstand their own shattered hopes and unthinkable loss.”

First Line: *CENSORED*SPOILER*

My Take: This book was provided to me by the author for review.

Again, I’m going to avoid any specific detail on the goings-on in this book since it’s the fifth book and I don’t want to spoil anything.

Lots of twists and turns, nothing uncommon with this series, but there was also more attention to the interpersonal on this one than in previous installments. This was nice to draw us in on the relationships and the real emotional toll that this entire saga is taking on our heroes. There are losses, unexpected allies, terrible betrayals, personal revelations–all that in a novella! I can feel us rounding the bend toward the conclusion of the series but the surprises keep on coming and I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT’S GOING TO END. This right here is what I love best about Indie books. I read plenty of traditional published stuff too but self-published works are always full of plot surprises I haven’t seen before. This series is no exception.

The Magical: Awesome ending! Definitely unexpected. Dear God, what’s going to happen now????

The Mundane: In certain scenes there were a few too many characters on stage that I didn’t know well or had seen maybe a couple of times. This caused some confusion and slowed the pace for me, though it may be a me-problem thing since I have trouble remembering the names of real humans if I’ve only interacted once or twice.

Summary of Thoughts: Currently this book is $0.99 on Amazon like the others (Except book one is FREE). A great installment in the continuation of this series which–I’ll just keep on sayin’ it–I highly recommend if you love compelling Sci-Fi.

Many thanks to author J. K. Ullrich for providing a copy of the book to review!

Want to learn more about the author and her work? Explore her website here

Love Is Respect

Tags

Domestic Violence, Fantasy Romance, Free Books, Giveaway, Valentine's Day, Young Adult

First off, many apologies for the blog silence the past couple of weeks (If you didn’t notice, then uh, never mind). My house and all my minions came down with a lovely cold/flu bug, followed by stomach flu, so it’s been all sleep deprivation, dwindling tissue supplies, and an orchestra of whines and coughs. And that’s just when I finally came down with it *hilarious mom joke – insert canned laughter here*

In other news, my husband had his procedure to remove the cancer they found last December and I’m happy to report that they think they got it all! He’s got follow ups and other checks coming to make sure all is well and stays well but things are looking good. Thank you everyone for all your prayers and well wishes! They meant a lot to me.

To those of you still waiting for the review of your book:

The reviews are coming! I have definitely been reading and hope to get back on track with my review schedule soon. Thank you so much for your patience! I have definitely noticed that you have not hounded me about it. My sincere gratitude for your patience.

A couple other updates I wanted to mention: I’ve pushed out the release date for a couple of things I’d originally wanted to publish this month. The first was the conclusion to the Insurrection series. Book five is nearly there but with all the personal goings-on I haven’t had time for proper revision. Since this is the finale to the series I delayed its release to make sure I have the enough time and focus to bring it to a satisfying conclusion.

New estimated publication date: March

I also wanted to publish Submerged (Salt & Waves: Book One) a Fantasy Romance story on Valentine’s Day but for the same reasons noted above (and because my cover artist wasn’t available until later) I’m bumping that publication date out a couple of months. Love and ocean mythology are never out of season though, right? I’m planning a giveaway with this one so look for more news on that in the near future.

Dark Frost, the first book in my YA Fantasy series Sundered Kingdoms that is slated for publication at the end of the year, is still on track. (Small mercies since my personality is not one that loves changing a deadline once it’s set.) Writing Young Adult has been a new experience for me and I really enjoy it. I know many people refer to it as a genre — the YA genre — but it’s actually not. It’s a reference to the intended audience or age range of the book, including the themes that said audience deals with. I’ve been reading a lot of YA lately. I mean, A LOT. It’s an amazing catalog of stories filled with all sorts of struggles and triumphs that make being an adult seem like a piece of cake. Lord, I remember being a teenager. That was a rough gig.

So, you’re wondering at this point why I’m bringing this up and what it has to do with the title of this post.

Love is Respect

Well, YA books tend to have their share of romance as well because, obviously, you can’t be a teenager without also grappling with heartache and feelings that are difficult to express let alone comprehend. This is a vulnerable time for them, a time when they aren’t 100% sure where their boundaries are or what boundaries even look like or what to do/how to know when someone they’re in love with crosses them. And as much as I love YA books I have noticed a concerning trend in some wherein the male love interest behaves abusively to the female main character (This is a heterosexual example) but the behavior is never called out as abusive. In fact, it’s portrayed as forgivable without any redress between them.

Recently I had the disturbing experience of reading a scene like that in which the girl’s internal dialogue blamed herself for the guy’s abusive actions. To be clear, abuse doesn’t just take the form of physical assault, but also the threat of physical assault — making someone feel like they’ll be harmed. That was the case here. The guy discovered a secret she’d been keeping from him concerning her identity (which in no way hurts him). He confronts her. The secret is confirmed. Then he proceeds to tear apart the room around her, smashing the furniture, breaking everything in sight — with his SWORD no less, so now we have a weapon involved (we’ll set aside for the moment the fact that he’s disrespecting his sword by chopping wood with it).

This sword has been in my family for five generations. It has never known defeat. Until now.

He’s roaring and growling and when he’s done busting everything in sight, he backs her up against the wall, crowding her. She’s afraid of him at this point (duh). Did I mention she was recovering from a stab wound? She’s NAKED, injured, and the guy who supposedly loves her has her backed up against the wall, inches from her face. She’d tried to grab a blanket to cover herself but he’d ripped that away. He accuses her of making a fool of him, that everyone knew this secret except him. Well, gee, buddy, I wonder why she never told your dumb ass. Could it be she thought you’d lose your friggin’ mind like you just did? Also, she doesn’t owe you a damn thing.

As you can imagine, there was steam coming out of my ears at this point. And this is a really popular YA Fantasy series. I’m not going to say which one but ARRRggh!! The alpha male crap that I’ve seen in books drives me to madness. Couldn’t he have just asked her point blank about it? And hey, if she lies, that’s another conversation they’ll need to have because it speaks to a trust issue. Hers and his. And if it continues down that path, well, then other decisions can be made, like whether or not to stay together. Sure, there might be yelling, but I’ll be damned if he’s entitled to make her feel afraid for her safety, if he’s allowed to intimidate her, humiliate her because he’s pissed off. The fact that this is never addressed in what’s supposed to be an epic romance between them upsets me to no end. And what does this tell our teenagers about relationships when a scene like this takes place in the books they read? “Hey, it’s okay if he treats you like trash when he feels you did something wrong.” Is that it? I would argue that this is exactly the moment when a girl can tell whether she has a keeper or not. Is he still loving/respectful even when he’s mad as hell at you?

February is Teen Domestic Violence month.

Attention to domestic violence, its forms and its prevention, is important for all age groups, genders, and sexual orientation, but I’m glad that the month in which Valentine’s Day falls is dedicated to the teens. Love is such a huge emotion for their immature brains to grapple with, it’s no wonder that studies show that the lion’s share of relationship violence occurs between ages 16 and 24. This can seem hard to believe, but it’s true. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. It’s ever more vital to ensure that the stories young adults are reading depict love as a partnership, not a hierarchy, and definitely as a relationship based on respect.

In Dark Frost, my main character Sakari is dealing with the trauma of a past abusive relationship. There’s plenty of good ole Fantasy elements around her–magic, battles, goblins, and sword fighting–but at its core, its about a teenage girl’s recovery after abuse, finding a way to trust herself and others again, understanding what love is and what it is not. Its a theme I chose because it has personal meaning and also because I feel its something not explored enough in YA. And it should be.

Now, on to something lighter since it IS Valentine’s Day and I absolutely love “Love”…

Let’s have a BOOK GIVEAWAY!!

Today is the Two Year anniversary of Amid the Imaginary! I can’t believe it’s been two years since I began tapping out my opinions and subjecting all you innocent bystanders to my oddball ways. You all are awesome and it makes my day every time you Like or View my posts. So in honor of my followers, this blog, and Valentine’s Day, I’m giving away a print version or eBook version (winner’s choice) of any of the following Fantasy Romance books:

Option One:

Read my review of Radiance here

Option Two:

Read my review of this series here

Option Three:

Read my review of The Scribe here

The Giveaway runs for one week, so until 12PM CST on Tuesday, February 21st.

All you have to do to enter is retweet anything from the Love Is Respect twitter account –an awesome organization dedicated to empowering young people to end dating violence. (Please include @AnelaDeen so I see your retweet).

Not on Twitter? Then just post a comment to this post or on the blog’s Facebook page with your thoughts about romance in YA books (Your likes/dislikes, things you’ve noticed, trends).

Or, if you’d rather not post your opinion on this subject publicly, just send me an e-mail to Amidtheimaginary@gmail.com, ATTN: YA. I understand it can be a very personal subject so this is absolutely fine.

And that’s it for me today folks! Thanks so much for hanging in there on this long winded post. Happy to be back and I wish you much love, friendship, and goodwill today and always!

Steel and Fire Series

Tags

Book Review, Book Series, Fantasy, Indie Author, Self Published Book, Young Adult

Title & Author: Steel and Fire Series — Duel of Fire (#1), King of Mist (#2), Dance of Steel (#3), Jordan Rivet

Genre & Publication Date: YA Fantasy, Duel of Fire – March 20, 2016, King of Mist – May 11, 2016, Dance of Steel – August 30, 2016

Book Description: From Book One: Duel of Fire: “Dara Ruminor is a serious young duelist in the mountaintop kingdom of Vertigon, a land of dramatic cliffs and misty peaks where mysterious Fire magic runs through the stones like blood. The secluded kingdom has been peaceful for a hundred years. Swords are used for sport, and successful athletes live like kings as long as the crowds love them.

Eighteen-year-old Dara needs to find a wealthy patron in order to duel professionally and avoid a lifetime working in her parents’ Fire Lantern shop. Her efforts are disrupted when her coach asks her to train with Prince Siv, an infuriating—if handsome—young man who refuses to take the sport as seriously as she does. But the prince’s life may be in danger, and soon Dara will discover that Vertigon isn’t as peaceful as she thought.

As threats emerge from the shadows, Dara will have to raise her sword to protect Siv—if he doesn’t irritate her so much that she decides to run him through herself.”

First Line: Dara struck the practice dummy with a precise hit.

My Take: Sooooooo torn on how I feel about this series. It has an awesome premise with royal intrigue, fire magic, and dueling all with some good humor and lovable characters that had me thinking a lot of “The Princess Bride” — totally different story but the fencing and quipping called that one to mind.

The two main characters, Dara and Siv, are a great contrast. Dara is strong and serious, determined, a tat rigid but with a caring, honorable soul. Siv is outgoing, flippant but in a charming way, brave when the chips are down and deeply loyal to his family. Their differences juxtapose brilliantly and bring some fun conflict, particularly those early scenes when they irritate the crap out of each other, and their similarities make them a great team. What I enjoyed about this relationship was how it evolved slowly: from animosity, to respect, to friendship. Siv admires Dara, her ability with a blade and her dedication, while Dara, for all that Siv’s teasing drives her crazy, can’t help but be drawn to his warmth and exuberance. This is all beautifully done against a backdrop of duels, monarchical turmoil, betrayal, and murder…at least, for the first two books.

What does that mean, you ask?

It means I hit book three and – CRASH! – the plot stopped moving forward altogether and headed off in different directions, adding totally new characters that I don’t care about and subplots I care even less about. There’s also another POV added which threw me off. It’s from a character we’ve been introduced to before but since books one and two are from Dara and Siv’s POV, I had a hard time not hating this new voice for interrupting the ones I’m more interested in hearing from (especially since I wasn’t all that excited about the new one). All the action and tension built up from the first two books felt utterly deflated. The entire time I’m thinking, “When are we going back to the main story???”, but that doesn’t seem to be the point of book three, almost as if the author got tired of writing that main plot line. But I wasn’t tired of reading about it! *cries*

This sort of thing has happened to me with other series (book two of An Ember in the Ashes, for example). Things are centered around two characters, then suddenly another point of view I DON’T CARE ABOUT is added on, taking me away from the story I signed up for. Why? Was it just to extend the length of the series? I think this one could’ve made an awesome trilogy but because it’s scheduled to be five books long when maybe it shouldn’t be, book three felt like a tacked on adventure, or a filler episode like in a TV series. You know the ones — like any of the Jordy La forge episodes we were subjected to in the Next Generation.

The Magical: The duels! Oh the duels were my favorite. Thrust and parry! I almost wanted to shout, “I am not left-handed!” while reading them.

The Mundane: Book three. The beginning and ending held true to the first books but that whole middle section, no.

Summary of Thoughts: A while back I asked whether readers thought the serial series was a writer’s gimmick or not. There were some strong opinions on the subject that I didn’t altogether agree with, but I think I’m starting to get the sentiment, especially after this recent experience. When it seems like a story is being stretched thin just to eke out another book and earn more money, it really kills the reading enjoyment. Offshoot stories, prequels, etc. are all acceptable in my view, mainly because they’re independent and don’t interfere with the core books. This series could’ve easily ranked as one of my favorites because book one and two are spectacular, but that third one just took the fun out of it for me and sadly, I won’t be reading the final installments.

Curious what others thought? Check out Amazon’s reviews here

Want to know more about the author and her work? Explore her website here

The Singularity Series

Tags

Book Review, Book Series, Science-Fiction, Self Published Book, Susan Kaye Quinn, Young Adult

Title & Author: “The Legacy Human” (Book One), “The Duality Bridge” (Book Two), “The Illusory Prophet” (Book Three), Susan Kaye Quinn

Genre & Publication Date: YA Science-Fiction, Feb. 19, 2015 (book one), Aug. 13, 2015 (book two), Oct. 13, 2016 (book three)

Book Description: (From Book One, “The Legacy Human”) “What would you give to live forever? Seventeen-year-old Elijah Brighton wants to become an ascender–a post-Singularity human/machine hybrid–after all, they’re smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and above all, achingly beautiful. But Eli is a legacy human, preserved and cherished for his unaltered genetic code, just like the rainforest he paints. When a fugue state possesses him and creates great art, Eli miraculously lands a sponsor for the creative Olympics. If he could just master the fugue, he could take the gold and win the right to ascend, bringing everything he’s yearned for within reach… including his beautiful ascender patron. But once Eli arrives at the Games, he finds the ascenders are playing games of their own. Everything he knows about the ascenders and the legacies they keep starts to unravel… until he’s running for his life and wondering who he truly is.

The Legacy Human is the first in Susan Kaye Quinn’s new young adult science fiction series that explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world… and how technology will challenge us to remember what it means to be human.”

First Line: I want to ascend so badly, I can taste it.

My Take: I’m not sure where to even begin with my review of this series. I could start with how amazing it is, but that doesn’t do it justice. Okay, I’ll put it this way: This is a series that tackles the question of life, the universe, and everything, and let me tell you, the answer is a lot more interesting than 42.

I’ll keep most of this review about book one, “The Legacy Human”, to avoid spoilers but will comment on the sequels as well.

In book one the story takes place on a futuristic Earth in which mankind has found a way to ascend past the confines of the human body to a technologically advanced existence. In other words, memories and personality are streams of data that can be housed in synthetic bodies which are stronger/faster/more beautiful than a normal human body, essentially making the “ascenders” immortal. Ah, but not everyone gets to take the leap. There are still regular flesh and blood humans, dubbed “Legacy” humans (and I just LOVE this term because it makes me think of how outdated computer programs are called) who live in specific, rather grungy areas outside of the glittering central neighborhoods where the ascenders live.

Written in the first-person POV, we enter this world through Elijah Brighton–Eli. I really liked this kid. He’s compassionate, self-deprecating (always a win in my book), and so loyal. He’s also insecure, indecisive, and needs to be shoved in the right direction at times. Thankfully he has his best friend Cyrus to help him out there, an awesome side character who I adored.

Eli’s mom is dying of cancer. Ascender technology could save her life but it’s outlawed to use it on Legacy humans because it would alter their genetic make-up, and the ascenders want to keep Legacy genes pure…unless you win the gold at the Olympics. Do that and you and your family can ascend. Thus Eli decides to participate to get his mom a cure and reach his dream of ascending. Oh, and these Olympics? Yeah, they’re no longer sports oriented since ascenders wouldn’t find physical feats interesting anymore. These Olympics revolve around the arts–music, dance, story/language, and art. Gah, how I WISH we had such a thing in real life! Don’t get me wrong, I love sports–Hey, I was on the Varsity team in high school, placed at the top of state and conference championships–but wouldn’t it be great if we had Olympics in the arts as well?? *wistful sigh*

So obviously, this is all amazing world-building with cool advanced tech and a race of human/non-humans that makes you wonder what’s really going on behind the scenes. We’ve got Eli striving to win the Olympics, navigate the murky politics of the games, and save his mother’s life. Not to mention the mystery of Eli’s fugue state where he gets visions and wakes up to having painted a masterpiece with no idea how to reproduce it.

All of that would be enough for an incredible story, but here’s the thing: the author takes it all one step further. What really gets me, and what makes this a five star review, is the second level to this plot, the philosophical questions around existentialism and spirituality it poses. The question of perpetuity versus immortality. The pondering of the nature of the soul. Does it exist? What does it mean if it does? These questions and more thread through each book in the series alongside the action and adventure. The best part? The author doesn’t cram her perspective down your gullet. There is no preaching here. She answers questions within the story and still leaves you wondering at the grander ideas. It’s a delicate dance expertly done–one that makes me think she herself deserves a gold medal in the Olympics of Eli’s world. Working with such immense themes while integrating them into an engaging Sci-Fi story in an incredibly complex futuristic world? A daunting task to say the least, one that requires a gutsy writer to accomplish and send into the world. It can’t have been easy but, wow, what a sensational result. *stands up to clap enthusiastically*

The Magical: Eli’s fugue state is trippy. So otherworldly. So abstract. So fun to read! And there’s Dutch in this book!! My Dutch husband was quite pleased to see his language (written correctly) in a Sci-Fi book. Thank goodness Eli didn’t run into Peter Rubens in his fugue or interpreting the guy’s painting might’ve gotten awkward…

The Mundane: There’s a bit of romance in the book and while I love Kamali (LOVE Kamali!) I’m not sure I felt the romantic connection with Eli so much. Definitely a bond though. Regardless, it didn’t detract from anything. This story is about so much more than romance. And that family love between Eli and Cyrus, and Eli and his mother, that hit the center of the bullseye. Beautiful.

Summary of Thoughts: “The Legacy Human” is currently $0.99 on the Kindle and it’s also on Kindle Unlimited. Seriously, less than a buck for an amazing story! It’s going to be a five book series–not that the plot is being stretched. It needs the space to do it justice. And while the Olympics in book one has that cool games/trials/competition feel to it, the books following it lose no momentum like other series I’ve read do when they leave the arena. Eli’s journey continues to expand as we learn more about him, his development a fascinating path to follow, and all the while themes around the nature of existence and soul leave you contemplating humanity, divinity, and what it means to be alive. There it is folks, I’ve flat run out of adjectives to convince you to read this one. It’s a chef d’oeuvre. Really.

Curious what others thought? Check out Amazon’s reviews here

Want to know about this author and her work? Explore her website here