#Indiecorner

The Darkest Gate by SM Reine

Katja — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:34:28 +0000

format: ebook
target audience: adult
genre: urban fantasy
words: ~85000
series: descent, book 2
published: may 2012
publisher: red iris books

author’s site: sm reine

i got it from: review copy
add it on goodreads: The Darkest Gate

When Elise Kavanagh retired from demon hunting, she swore it would be permanent. But an attack from a powerful necromancer forced her back into the business, and now she’s trying to balance her normal boyfriend and normal job with everything supernatural.

Mr. Black is a demon hunter gone rogue. He’s enslaving angels and stealing ethereal artifacts in pursuit of forbidden immortality. An old grudge drives him to make his final stand in Elise’s territory. Destroying her life and killing her friends isn’t the goal, but it’s a definite perk.

A demonic overlord offers to join against Mr. Black and protect Elise’s loved ones. All she needs to do is ally with the demons she’s sworn to kill, at the cost of her morals–and maybe her immortal soul. But once she crosses that line, there’s no turning back.

Nothing is sacred when Heaven and Hell collide on Earth…

Cover

It’s an ok cover. Doesn’t make me go uuh and aah, but it works. Also keeps the style of the series.

My Review

I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC of this book. Since I finished the first book of the Descent-series, I’ve wanted to get more.

Reading sequels is like coming back to see good old friends. At least that’s how I felt when I picked up “The Darkest Gate”. The book begins with a scene in the past, when Elise is still a scrawny teenager and she and James are struggling with their everyday life. I love the peeks of the past, that continue throughout the book — they also entwine tightly with the plot, so they’re not fillers.

You don’t need to wait for the action in this book. We get tossed into life changing happenings from the start and see how well the characters can handle themselves in the midst of it all. I got to understand Elise much better in this book. I think she’s a character very different from your usual heroine, and I like it. First my brain tried to force Elise into a mold and I expected her to behave differently, so she managed to surprise me over and over again. When I was done with the book, I felt I knew Elise better.

James wasn’t my favorite in this book — he seemed a bit cold and trying to put a distance to Elise. I’ll be interested to see how all this will affect the third book, with all the happenings in this one. There was lots going on especially at the end, but you’ll have to read about that yourself for me not to spoil you. Anthony on the other hand is growing on me — he’s much stronger than he first appeared. Betty is pretty much the same, though she’s going through some hardship with the rest of them. And then there’s the mysterious Thom… I have my suspicions of him.

As usual, Reine is great at writing descriptions. She can make a battle so alive to the reader, you almost might be the one receiving the punches. We also got to know a lot of things in this book, that were left in the dark the last time, but there’s still things that were left unanswered and I believe will get and answer in the third part of the series. Personally I found it a bit frustrating, when Elise reveals something to Anthony, but it’s not revealed to the reader at that point. Overall the build ups in the book won’t let you hanging too bad, but just makes enough tension for you to keep turning pages.

It’s no secret, that Reine is one of my favorite indie authors so I have high expectations for her books. “The Darkest Gate” keeps up with the standard of awesome. This is the true urban fantasy style book, where the action tops the romance — there’s hardly any of the latter. So, if you’re waiting for this sequel, it’s safe to say, you won’t be disappointed. And if you’re not familiar with the Descent-series yet, but you love urban fantasy, I suggest you go pick it up. I believe this book should be up at Amazon anytime now…

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

About the Author

SM Reine is an author of dark fantasy for teen and adult audiences. Her most widely known work is “Six Moon Summer,” which has been hailed as “fresh and fast-paced” and “captivating.” She lives in Nevada with her husband, the Helpful Baby, and too many black animals to count.
Author’s Website

Interesting Kindle Freebies #3

Katja — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:44:50 +0000

Ready for your dose of goodies that are Kindle freebies? Today’s pickings are paranormal, urban fantasy and steampunk. Hope you enjoy them!

Pyxis by K.C. Neal

Get it free from Amazon

Corinne lives an average teenage life working at her dad’s cafe, hanging out with her best friend, and trying to forget a falling-out with her almost-boyfriend Mason. Then she discovers she and Mason are haunted by the same dreams of a dark force that consumes everything in its path. Pursued by shadowy figures and a dangerous woman with secrets from the past, Corinne must find out who her grandmother really was. In her quest to unravel her family’s history, she learns she is destined to protect this world–and the dark world of her dreams. She races to find the answers she seeks before her nightmares break free.

Dirty Blood by Heather Hildenbrand

To be honest, I’ve bought this book ages ago, but haven’t had the time to read it yet. Anyway it’s currently free, and I know Heather is a good writer, so you should grab it.
Get it free from Amazon

I killed a girl last night. I did it with my bare hands and an old piece of pipe I found lying next to the dumpster. But that’s not the part that got me. The part that scared me, the part I can’t seem to wrap my head around and still has me reeling, was that when she charged me, her body shifted – and then she was a wolf. All snapping teeth and extended claws. But by the time I stood over her lifeless body, she was a girl again. That’s about the time I went into shock… And that was the moment he showed up.

Now, all I can do is accept the truths that are staring me in the face. One, Werewolves do exist. And two, I was born to kill them.

Viridis by Calista Taylor

Get it free from Amazon

In steampunk Victorian London, where airships dot the sky and tinkerings abound, Lady Phoebe Hughes develops an herbal elixir, Viridis, unlike any other. London’s elite flock to her club to experience the euphoria and heightened senses the drink brings, an orgasm brought on by a single kiss. But when Lord Hawthorne is murdered after leaving her club, Phoebe is shocked to find that not only was he working for the Special Services to infiltrate the Cause, a movement fighting for the city’s poor, he was also in possession of her secret formulation for Viridis.

Adding to her difficulties is the unexpected return of Mr. Seth Elliott, a brilliant tinkerer who stole her heart and imagination, only to abandon her when she needed him most. Unable to ignore all that is between them, Phoebe finds herself falling for Seth once again, only to have a powerful rival for her affections wrongly accuse Seth of attempted murder. As Phoebe struggles with a way to free her love, revolution, conspiracy and murder threaten to ruin it all.

Inhale by Kendall Grey

Katja — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:57:30 +0000

format: ebook
target audience: adult
genre: urban fantasy
words: ~99467
series: just breathe, book 1
publishing day: may 2012
publisher: howling mad press
goodreads: inhale

author’s site: kendall grey

i got it from: review copy

After years of suffocating under her boss’s scrutiny, whale biologist Zoe Morgan finally lands a job as director of a tagging project in Hervey Bay, Australia. Success Down Under all but guarantees her the promotion of a lifetime, and Zoe won’t let anything—or anyone—stand in her way. Not the whale voices she suddenly hears in her head, not the ex who won’t take no for an answer, and especially not the gorgeous figment of her imagination who keeps saving her from the fiery hell of her dreams.

Gavin Cassidy hasn’t been called to help a human Wyldling in over a year, which is fine by him. Still blaming himself for the death of his partner, he keeps the guilt at bay by indulging in every excess his rock star persona affords. That is, until he’s summoned to protect Zoe from hungry Fyre Elementals and learns his new charge is the key to restoring order in the dying Dreaming. He never expects to fall for the feisty Dr. Morgan…nor does he realize he may have to sacrifice the woman he loves to save an entire country.

cover

Simply put: I love it. It’s a well done eye-catcher, that fits well with the books theme and story.

my review

I got interested in Inhale the weirdest way. I saw a few tweets about reading from the author:

“This book is why I quit reading a year ago. I think I’ll quit again after I finish it.” (She didn’t tell which book she was talking about.)

“Nah, I don’t like much of anything I pick up, to be honest. Nothing really holds my interest. Reading takes a lot of time too..”

“I know. I’m the outlier in the writing community. The only writer who doesn’t read. Go figure. :-)”

So an author who doesn’t read… what is this sorcery? Surely her book can’t be any good if she doesn’t read, can it? So naturally I asked for a review copy… and because of her own high standards for literature, my expectations for Inhale were HIGH.

And let me get this out straight away. The book is amazing and parts of it are hitting brilliance. Kendall Grey is the exception that proves the rule and you should read her book once it comes out.

The beginning of Inhale is actually the weakest part of the book. It shouldn’t be necessary to read a glossary before reading a book and I wish Grey would’ve explained the terms via storytelling early on. After you pass the prologue it’s easier to keep track on all the new terms.

Grey is especially good writing her descriptions. There’s a scene with fyre elementals Scarlett and Seraphine, where I saw this skill of hers the first time. Grey’s words were so vivid, they drag you in and leave you lingering in the world she created. I would love to quote that particular scene here, but I don’t want to spoil it for you. It’s better if you read it in the context. It’s not that the whole book is epically written scenes one after another, but you get lots of them.

I loved Zoe as the heroine — she doesn’t take shit, stands for what she believes, forgives when it’s warranted and has true feelings. And despite all the differences between her and the hero of the book — Gavin — I can believe in them. I truly think they could fall in love and compliment each other instead of clashing. I was afraid the author would let the book end without their relationship getting a real resolution, but was relieved that’s not the case.

My favorite character in the book was Scarlett. She’s devious, cunning and such a perfectly imperfect villain for the story. What allows her to grow close to greatness is also what takes her down in a swiff. I wasn’t a fan of how she crumbled in the end, but I guess that will leave more room for her development in the next book.

Grey gets a teensy bit minus for being occasionally repetitive. She mentions things like Zoe’s condition several times, when it’s not really needed. I doubt anyone forgets it after the first time it comes up. However the book is very polished and a true pleasure to read. I recommend Inhale wholeheartedly for all adult urban fantasy readers.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Oh, and Grey is promising all of the book’s profits will go towards educating people about whales. How awesome is that?

book trailer

about the author

Kendall Grey, word diddler and whale champion, was born without an off-switch between her brain and mouth. She’s been called the “flux capacitor of Twitter” and “a little package of love all wrapped up in F-word paper,” but she’s really just a maniacal writer relaying eyewitness accounts of the rave inside her head. Her “Just Breathe” urban fantasy trilogy will be released in May, 2012. Kendall lives off a dirt road near Atlanta, Georgia, but don’t hold that against her.
Author’s Website

Interesting Kindle Freebies #2

Katja — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:26:24 +0000

Second Freebie Day! As I mentioned last time, my recommendations will be urban fantasy, paranormal romance, sci-fi and steampunk. I hope you enjoy my picks!

The Burning Sky by Joseph Robert Lewis

Get it free from Amazon

Taziri had a promising career as an airship engineer and inventor until an explosion incinerated the fleet and killed most of the Air Corps. Now, she is the only pilot left to help the marshals hunt down the people responsible for this tragedy before they can strike again.

Taziri’s investigation ranges across the country on airships, steamships, and racing locomotives, from sprawling cities to ancient tombs. She discovers a vast conspiracy including a traitorous ambassador with an electric touch, an Espani doctor performing horrific experiments, and a Samaritan assassin who prefers Italian daggers over Mazigh guns.

And as killers emerge from every shadow and riots erupt on every street corner, Taziri quickly learns to defend herself as only an engineer can – with her wits and her tools.

In a country where women control the government, the military, and the most powerful industries in the world, Taziri has a clear advantage over the male marshals. But despite all her efforts, her country’s only hope for peace may be an exiled Incan princess and her swashbuckling lover, and an airship called Halcyon falling from the burning sky.

The Wizard of Time by G.L. Breedon

Get it free from Amazon

Thirteen-year-old Gabriel Salvador has dreams about the future and his dreams always come true. When he dreams one night that he will drown, he knows upon waking it is only a matter of time before his dream becomes reality.

Plucked from the timeline of history at the moment of his death, Gabriel becomes an apprentice time mage and part of an elite team of wizards who travel throughout history to fight the War of Time and Magic.

Victorian London, the Aztec temples of 1487, the Greek island of Samos in 320 BCE, Scotland in the Middle Ages, and the battle fields of Alexander the Great are only some of the adventures in time that await Gabriel as he learns to become a time mage and joins the battle to protect the timeline of history in THE WIZARD OF TIME.

Synthetic: Rise of the Siren by Shonna Wright

Get it free from Amazon

Playing God is a lonely job. Kora created twin mermaids, a gang of gnomes and even a replica of Brigitte Bardot for her wealthy clientele, but what she really wants is her own family.

Forget pregnancy. Kora synthesizes full-grown creatures from artificial cells. Thanks to this unique talent, she’s enslaved at Mirafield Labs where she’s forced to pump out synthetic bimbos twenty-four hours a day, leaving her no time to design her own companions. But when a Mirafield bigwig named Ruby Lazar summons her for a house call, Kora leaps at the opportunity to escape her captors.

Kora is shipped off to a Gothic castle on the cliffs of Point Dume where meets Ruby, an ancient horror actress turned mad scientist, who she is shocked to learn is her long-lost mother. Ruby rules over a family of her own creations including a walrus man, a tiny troll, and her vampire boy toy, Vaughn. He wants nothing to do with Ruby, but she hopes to seduce him and resurrect her acting career by transforming herself into a gorgeous vampire.

To save her own neck, Kora must perform the impossible task of transferring Ruby’s brain into the body of a synthetic vampire. But making a monster while falling for Vaughn puts Kora in a tailspin. Is she morphing into her detestable mother? Desperate to get free, Kora searches for remnants of her past and discovers a monster genocide Ruby ordered ten years before that ripped Kora from everyone she loved. Now Kora must battle her mother before Ruby destroys her life all over again.

So that was this weeks selection, hope you like them! I’ll be gone for the weekend, so see you next week.

The Ghost Hunter by Lori Brighton

Katja — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:01:26 +0000

format: ebook
target audience: adult
genre: paranormal romance
words: ~99467
series: the hunter, book 1
published: september 2010

author’s site: Lori Brighton

i got it from: bought
get it from amazon: the ghost hunter
Price: currently free

When Ashley Hunter inherits the Inn where her father mysteriously vanished years ago, she jumps at the chance to finally uncover the truth about his disappearance. But soon after taking ownership of the decrepit building, Ashley realizes she’s in for far more than she bargained. Not only has she inherited answers to many sought-after questions, she’s also inherited spirits, demons and even fallen angels! Then Cristian arrives, a gorgeous man who insists he merely needs a room to rent. She believes him, until one by one her ghosts start disappearing…

As a fallen angel destined for a life of servitude, Cristian Lucius is relegated to protecting earth from unwanted spirits. But he can’t accomplish this daunting task alone. He requires assistance from the very woman who frustrates him as much as she intrigues him. Cristian is determined to ignore his intense attraction for Ashley, and focus on his mission. If they don’t work together, they won’t have a chance in hell of defeating the demon threatening their lives. The problem is getting Ashley to trust him. No easy task, considering Cristian is the very man responsible for her father’s disappearance.

cover

I bought this book last spring, when it still had its old cover. Not that the old one is bad as such, I still like this new one better. The previous cover reminds me of some highlander ~~erotic~~ romance books. The new cover communicates more of a plot driven paranormal book, which the story fits in. It’s simple, but powerful and the rugged man is much more pleasant to look at than the steroid pumped bodyguard on the first cover.

my review

Some books just take me forever to read even when there’s nothing particularly wrong with them. This one I read for almost three months last year — I guess it was just too average to keep me entertained and turning pages. It reminds me a lot of romance slush novels, just with a paranormal twist, which might be the reason, since I’ve overdosed on those during my teens and require a bit more from the books I read nowadays. That said the book did have a plot, did have secrets, mystery and a dark past — but it was all dragged on too long and it wasn’t hard to know what would happen next.

The book is set in the idyllic countryside of England, where Ashley arrives to take care of the inn she’s inherited. Ashley has the ability to see and talk to ghosts, which has landed her in a mental institution before. She struggles with ignoring the ghosts, since there’s plenty of them in the inn and finally caves in. Ashley is a likable enough heroine.

Can’t say the same about Christian though. The ~~love interest~~ annoying guy who refuses to leave and whose dialogue is to my annoyance written with an accent (seriously can’t stand those). Also trigger warning for those who hate heroes who can’t take no for an answer (although Christian’s reason is, that he’s on a mission).

However I did like “The Ghost Hunter” and it’s not a bad book. It gets more interesting about halfway through. I’d say those who enjoy slushy paranormal romance as guilty pleasure or whatever, will find this enjoyable as well. And as it’s free nowadays, I’d say go get it.

rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

about the author

As a child, thoughts of far-off places and adventure consistently kept Lori up late at night. After graduating high school, she came to the conclusion that there was no better way to seek adventure and nourish her love of history than to become an archaeologist. She went on to receive a degree in anthropology, but digging in the dirt during humid Midwestern summers wasn’t exactly as fun as she thought it would be.

Instead, she went to work in an air conditioned museum where she spent her days surrounded by creepy Victorian animal mounts. Still, she wasn’t satisfied.

Deciding the people in her imagination were slightly more exciting than the dead things in a museum basement, she set out to write her first romance novel. That book was soundly rejected. As was the next. Years went by and she began to wonder if she’d ever see her dream fulfilled. Until one day she came up with an idea for a book that brought together her love of history and adventure: a book now titled Wild Heart. Since Wild Heart’s release, Lori has written Historical Romance, Contemporary Paranormal Romance and Young Adult.

Lori currently resides in the Southern U.S., where she juggles her time between a husband, a son, a golden retriever, a cat and the many, many people in her imagination.
Author’s Website

Interesting Kindle Freebies #1

Katja — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:40:07 +0000

Nowadays there’s lots of freebie e-books and it’s hard to weed out the bad from the good. That’s why I’m going to pick every week a few promising freebies, that I’m going to download myself. Note that I have not read these books yet, so I can’t promise they’re awesome. My recommendations will mostly be urban fantasy, paranormal romance, sci-fi and steampunk.

Branded by Keary Taylor

Get it free from Amazon

Jessica’s had the nightmares for as long as she can remember. Nightmares of being judged for people who have died, of being branded by the angels. Her friends and family think she’s a crazy because of it all. Yet she carries the mark of the condemned, seared into the back of her neck, and hides it and herself away from the world.

But when two men she can’t ignore enter her life everything changes, including the nightmares. The two of them couldn’t be more different. She will do anything to be with one of them. Even tell him the truth about angels, why she never sleeps, and the scar on the back of her neck. But one of the two has set events into motion what will pull her toward her own judgment and turn her into the object of her greatest fear.

The Tears of Elios by Crista McHugh

Get it free from Amazon

Shape-shifters’ Rule #1: Don’t let the humans know you still exist.
Rule #2: If a human finds out about you, silence them.

Some rules were meant to be broken…

Ranealya ruthlessly plays by the rules and has outlived most of her race because of it. If she wants to survive, she’ll have to stick to them, especially with a genocidal tyrant hell-bent on destroying all the non-humans in the realm. But everything falls apart when a human saves her life.

Gregor knows he’s inviting trouble when he helps a wounded shape-shifter, but he can’t pass up the opportunity to study one before they become extinct. She disturbs the quiet order of his scholarly existence, vexes him in more ways than he can count, and encourages him to break enough of the kingdom’s laws so that not even being the king’s cousin will save his head. The problem is, he’s already lost his heart.

Phantom Universe by Laura Kreitzer

Get it free from Amazon

Sold into slavery to pirates at the young age of four, Summer learns to survive the rough seas of subterfuge and thieves through silence. When the boat she’s lived on most of her life is destroyed, Summer finds herself washed up on the shore of a new world, a phantom universe full of the bizarre and extraordinary. She meets Gage, the one boy who understands the girl with no speech. But when their lives are put on the line, will Summer finally call out? Or will all be lost in the fathomless depth of silence?

And that’s it for today folks. I hope you enjoy my pickings! (Yes, I seem to favor female authors…)

Death’s Hand by SM Reine

Katja — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:00:58 +0000

format: ebook
target audience: adult
genre: urban fantasy
words: ~72000
series: descent, book 1
published: october 2011
publisher: red iris books

author’s site: sm reine

i got it from: bought
get it from amazon: death’s hand

Policing relations between Heaven, Hell, and Earth is messy and violent, but Elise Kavanagh and James Faulkner excelled at it–until coming across a job so brutal that even they couldn’t stand to see one more dead body. Now they’ve been pretending to be normal for five years, leaving their horrific history a dark secret. Elise works in an office. James owns a business. None of their friends realize they used to be one of the world’s best killing teams.

After years of hiding, something stirs. Bodies are vanishing. Demons scurry in the shadows of the night. A child has been possessed. Some enemies aren’t willing to let the secrets of the past stay dead…

Cover

The book still had it’s old cover, when I bought it. I think this new one is a great improvement, reflecting better the books genre and target audience.

My Review

I was excited when I first learned Reine has a new series coming out, since she’s one of my favourite indie authors. Where ‘Seasons of the Moon’-series is more about a teenage girl trying to find her way, Death’s Hand gives us an adult main character with a new set of problems.

The book opens with a scene from days gone, where James meets Elise the first time — or ‘meets’ might be a wrong word since he finds her in the middle of Russian woods with a stack of dead bodies. The opening is intriguing, giving us insight, that there might be something wrong with Elise and it builds up from there.

Death’s hand is an action packed page turner. The book starts to entwine plots that rise from Elise’s everyday life with burdens from her past, which she’s trying to obliterate. On several occasions I found myself thinking: “No you didn’t! How the heck is this going to get resolved?” — but every time Reine did a good job finding a solution that was believable. She also has a way of describing action; she can bring the scenes alive to the reader in a way where you can almost smell the blood and feel the bruises.

I love kick-ass female characters and I love them more when they’re real with actual flaws instead of virtues masked as vices. She makes mistakes and pays for them. She gets hurt without magically being healed for the next fight. Her relationship with her mentor James is messy.

I should note that Elise and James DO NOT have a romantic relationship. It’s more about their lives being tied together and the mentor-apprentice relationship which has evolved into mutual fondness and friendship. To be clear there’s hardly no romantic aspect at all in this book, just a little bit for the spice, but I didn’t even miss any. A deep romantic relationship would have shifted the book into something else.

Even though the main character is an adult woman, this book’s style in general is more for the YA audience. So if you’re looking for an adult book, you might want to read the sample first. And if you swear to only read YA, you should still check this one out.

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Book Trailer

About the Author

Of Æther and Æon by O.M. Grey

Katja — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:30:19 +0000

format: ebook
target audience: adult
genre: steampunk
words: 3693
published: august 2010
publisher: Blue Moose Press

author’s site: O.M. Grey

i got it from: bought
get it from amazon: Of Æther and Æon

In the midst of war, a beautiful young officer finds love aboard an airship.

cover

It’s a relevant cover, but somewhat boring. Works though.

my review

It’s first to be noted, that this is truly a short story. It’s probably shorter than you think. That said, it’s awesome and I’m sad that it was as short as it was. It’s a nice nibbling bite into steampunk, leaving you crave for more. Grey’s style of writing is intense and engaging and even in the short span of the story, you connect with the characters. I’m looking forward in reading some longer works by Grey.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

about the author

Olivia M. Grey dreams of the dark streets of London and the decadent deeds that occur after sunset. She dons a tight corset, a fluffy bustle, and a teeny-tiny top hat for fantasy conventions where she enjoys meeting fans and participating on panels. Olivia prefers to live in the cobwebbed corners of her dark mind writing paranormal romance with a Steampunk twist.
Author’s Website

Descended by Blood by Angeline Kace

Katja — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:15:19 +0000

format: ebook
target audience: ya
genre: paranormal romance
pages: 252
series: Vampire Born, book 1
published: August 2011
publisher: Accendo Press

author’s site: Angeline Kace

i got it from: bought
get it from amazon: Descended by Blood

Brooke Keller’s a high school junior who never spent much time living in one place. She’s finally in a town long enough to almost snag the boy of her dreams, until her life is threatened by a fanged man in his attempt to kidnap her. Brooke begins a dangerous journey to find out who is after her and how to stop them. Thrown into a world with powerful and prejudiced vampires, Brooke must tap into the side of herself that she never knew existed, at the risk of losing her life in order to save it.

cover

Just by looking at the cover, I can tell it’s a paranormal romance, which is good. It’s pretty average when you compare it to other commissioned indie covers and it’s quite ok.

my review

Since the sparkling vampires, quite a few have tried to reinvent those blood suckers, but not with that much success. It’s easy to go overboard, make up something totally crazy and then not be able to sell it to the readers. It takes skill to bring something of your own to a mythology, that’s been around for so long and make it believable. I’m glad to say, Kace did it and did it well.

The important characters in the book are the main character Brooke, her friend Kaitlynn and Brooke’s boyfriend Jaren and crush Mirko. Yes, there’s a love triangle, and lots of times they make me roll my eyes, but I was actually ok with the one here. Minor spoiler: With all the changes in Brooke’s life and Jaren’s reaction to it all, no wonder, that she feels drawn to someone who actually accepts her as she is. (Hover over to read.) Kaitlynn is an awesome friend to Brooke and I’m glad she appreciates her as much as she should. I would have wished some more growth in Brooke’s character, when she now remained much the same.

Kace is a very smooth storyteller and able to create easily imaginable surroundings and characters without having the reader swamped with too many details or descriptions. There were some problems with her action scenes though; when something fast paced happened, it was a bit hazy and some reactions a bit weird.

There’s a quality in some books, that just makes them different in a good way. Maybe it’s the way the story is told, choice of words, pace or something else — I can’t really pinpoint it, but ‘Descended of Blood’ has it. I like a lot of indie authors, but there’s just a handful that I make a point of recommending to anyone willing to listen and Kace made that list. So if you love to read paranormal romance, do pick up this book. You won’t regret it.

(And oh… I’m so team Mirko.)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Book Trailer

about the author

Angeline is a Scorpio living in the Rocky Mountains with her husband and two dogs. She loathed dogs and their “stick to me everywhere” hair until she fell for a pit bull.

She works full time at CPA firm and is going to school to get her Accounting degree. While she’s slaving away, trying to figure out why accounts aren’t balancing, she’s dreaming about books.
She started reading seriously- staying up all night to finish a book and buying every new release she could afford- after finishing Twilight. Say what you want about the series, but it got a lot of people reading, so it’s brought more to this world than just sparkly vampires.

She loves all things paranormal, but her favorites are vampires, werewolves, and zombies. In that order.

Author’s Website

My Perfect Wedding by Sibel Hodge

Katja — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:23:05 +0000

format: ebook
target audience: adult
genre: romantic comedy
words: ~88000
published: january 2011

author’s site: sibel hodge

i got it from: review copy
get it from amazon: my perfect wedding

Helen Grey is finally getting everything she wants. She’s about to have the perfect dream wedding and begin an exciting new life abroad on the sunny Mediterranean island of Cyprus. But living the dream isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

After a mix-up at the airport, Helen finds herself drawn into the midst of an elaborate plot to steal an ancient statue and assassinate a local businessman. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, her wedding dress is AWOL, the statue seems to be cursed, and Helen is wanted by the police.

With the big day rapidly approaching, a roller-coaster of mishaps, misunderstandings, and disasters threatens to turn the newlyweds into nearlyweds.

Can Helen prevent an assassination, save the statue, and have the perfect wedding? Or will the day to remember turn into one she’d rather forget?

Cover

The pastel colours and the bride on the cover are a good fit for this book. It’s not a big eye catcher, but fills its purpose and isn’t misleading.

My Review

These kind of books used to be my guilty pleasure, but it seems I don’t really enjoy them so much anymore. If you like to read romantic slush, I’m sure you’ll like this one too, but I just couldn’t get into the mood and this reflects to my review.

You could describe ‘My Perfect Wedding’ as chick-lit going crime novel. I think it’s supposed to make you laugh and feel good while you bite your nails whether everything is going to be alright or not, but lots of the unfortunate happenings and coincidences are a bit too far fetched. If you’ve read Bridget Jones’s Diary, it has lots of the same tone, but is a bit hit an miss in making it believable.

Helen and Kalem are both likable, but their relationship is quite blah. I guess I’d like some more spice and conflict in it. None of the other characters really stayed with me either, them being quite two-dimensional.

I’ve heard Hodge’s other books are more entertaining than this one, so if you’re looking into reading one of her books, you might want to pick one of her earlier works.

rating: 2 out of 5 stars

About the Author

Sibel Hodge has dual British/Turkish Cypriot nationality, dividing her time between Hertfordshire and North Cyprus. She is a qualified personal trainer, sports and massage therapist, and writes freelance feature articles on health, fitness, and various lifetyle subjects. Prior to this, she also worked for Hertfordshire Constabulary for ten years.

Author’s Website