I have been vilely sniffly with a foul head cold. However, every cloud yadayada … and I managed to get quite a bit of reading done from my bed of pain. So here is a digest of reviews of all the great stories that have helped me forget my red nose.
First of all, I was gifted book 2 and 3 of the Red Moon trilogy by the authors, and I devoured
them over a couple of days. Book 1, Time Trap, was a rattling good read, reviewed here.
In Time Return (Book 2), Rayen, Tony and Gabby return to the Sphere once more in their attempt to solve the mystery of the trapped childrens’ imprisonment and stop the grisly ends that the residents of the sphere meet on their eighteenth birthday.
The attraction between Callan and Rayen intensifies, Jaxxon and Gabby consolidate their relationship, and Tony’s brashness is ameliorated by the deep love and care he manifests for his younger brother who he is determined to get out of an unhappy foster home and make a real home for. Tony also strikes an unlikely rapport with the super-nerdy young seer in the Sphere, which proves vital to the resolution of the mystery.
There was a danger of bogging down in the teen love interests in book 2, but I think the authors just dodged that bullet, and book 2 ends leaving the reader panting to know the outcome. In I dived straight to Book 3: Time Lock, and it did not disappoint. Action packed, acronyms explained, baddies get their comeuppance in a plot that moves along at a cracking pace, the mystery of the Sphere is solved and its residents rescued, and Rayen finds her home and family once more. No loose ends!
Recommended as a rattling good YA read with appealing characters, great dialogue, good tight and interesting plot, sufficiently complex mystery and convincing world building. And great covers.
Elsker by S T Bende, a recent freebie, was absolutely charming. Kristia Tostenson, looking for adventure, transfers from her one-stoplight Oregon town to Cardiff University in Wales, where she falls for hot stuff Ull Myhr, biggest prize on the market.
Minor problem one – Ull is an honest-to-goodness Norse god fated to die at Ragnarok, the battle that is fated to destroy Asgard and earth. Minor problem two – Asgardian law prohibits Ull from tying his fate to a mortal. Ull’s step-daddy Thor (yes, you read that right) is not well pleased with his boy.
But when someone starts asking the wrong questions, Kristia realizes the crazy visions she’s had all her life might be the key to saving their realms. It sounds as though it could be dark and dangerous, but it so is not. It is gorgeous, light hearted, waggish and charming and absolutely capitalises to the utmost on the crazy premise! The blending of mythology with the modern world is made to work really entertainingly here.
Unreservedly recommended as a great, clean, light-hearted but also suspenseful romance. It moves along at a fair clip to its entertaining end, and stands on its own, though part one of a series. Total fun.
A Dead Red Cadillac by R P Dahlke I think came as a freebie from one of the newsletters I subscribe to and was well worth a read. Much married almost 40 Lalla Bains, ex-NY model, and reluctant crop duster pilot is inadvertently drawn into a sordid murder mystery. Look, I can’t do better than the blurb, so here it is:
Running her dad’s Crop-Dusting business in Modesto, California she’s hoping to dodge the inevitable fortieth birthday party. But when her trophy red ‘58 Cadillac is found tail-fins up in a nearby lake, the police ask why a widowed piano teacher, who couldn’t possibly see beyond the hood ornament, was found strapped in the driver’s seat. Reeling from an interrogation with local homicide, Lalla is determined to extricate herself as a suspect in this strange murder case. Unfortunately, drug running pilots, a cross-dressing convict, a crazy Chihuahua, and the dead woman’s hunky nephew throw enough road blocks to keep Lalla neck deep in an investigation that links her family to a twenty-year old murder only she can solve.
This was terrific fun, sassy, smart dialogue, a really intriguing mystery that had me stumped, quirky and often hilarious situations and characters, delightful romantic interplay with a little wistful note that keeps it all a bit real. A highly readable, vastly entertaining mystery story with a hint of romance to keep the suckers like me happy. Read one, read them all, they stand alone, though part of a series. Recommended.
A Reason to Run by Christina Coryell is another charmer. Again, the blurb sums it up best:
No-one is linking C.W. Oliver, the mysterious author with a book sitting atop the bestseller list, with Camdyn Taylor, the pretty blonde from an embarrassing proposal rejection video that has recently gone viral.
What would happen if people knew that those two individuals were one and the same?
Camdyn Taylor doesn’t like chaos, but it always seems to find her. When it inevitably appears, she does what comes naturally: She runs. That is one of the reasons she finds herself drawn to her ancestor, Willa Lawrence. A young widow with a new baby in the early 1800’s, her future and inheritance looked steady. Then, unexpectedly, she ran. With only the most basic necessities, she set off on a journey with her child toward an uncertain future. When Camdyn finds herself suddenly thrust into the spotlight after a suitor’s ill-advised proposal, she resorts to following Willa’s footsteps to Tennessee in order to finish her latest book.
Finding herself lost and in need of a little hope, she crosses paths with Cole Parker at just the right moment. She quickly becomes aware that things might never be the same, and while she’s focused on unearthing Willa’s reason to run…she just might discover her own.
This was really charming, with delightful byplay between the characters, great family ensemble cast, and an intriguing story. AND of course a gorgeous romance also. We all know how the story ends, but it is such a fun, wistful, sweet and heart-warming journey towards the inevitable denouement that you follow it with delight until the last page. I felt every excruciating moment of the toe-curlingly awful proposal that opens the book right along with Camdyn. But even as I cringed and died inside for the hapless heroine I laughed and laughed. Great comic writing. Perfect head-cold medicine!
Blood Oath by Felicity Pulman was another freebie I caught from my trawling activities. This is a well-written, very well researched YA historical novel, the first of the Janna Chronicles. I believe they were written some years ago and have been repackaged as ebooks. This is quality work.
From the Blurb: A young woman, left alone and destitute after the mysterious death of her mother, vows, somehow, to bring the murderer to justice. Godric, and the dashing nobleman, Hugh, lay claim to Janna’s heart, but who can she trust with the truth when all around her have secrets? In a country torn apart by the vicious civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, Janna needs all her wits and courage to stay alive as she comes closer to those who are determined to silence her forever.
This is extremely well written, a compelling mystery with excellent historical background seamlessly woven through the tale. The times were convincingly evoked, and the netherworld inhabited by the skilled herbalist and her daughter Janna on the fringes of a superstitious society whose people yet need her arcane skills is intriguingly realised. The war, beyond the ken of most, yet sometimes impinging unpleasantly on daily life brings an added tension to Janna’s quest for survival and for answers about her mother’s mysterious death. While part of a series, it stands well on its own. A most absorbing, quality YA read. Recommended.
Trawling the Amazon 