Free on Amazon Today

Alright people so I have found yet another great ebook you can download for free.
Scott Nicholson's set called Odd Stacks.

Enjoy!

Amazon Description;
"Nobody thrills like Nicholson does. Nobody." - J.A. Konrath, THE LIST

ODD STACKS is the complete text of three story collections covering fantasy, science fiction, zombie, and paranormal tales. A total of 36 stories originally published in professional magazines and anthologies such as Writers of the Future, The Third Alternative, Spacesuits and Sixguns, Black October, and more. The box set of 136,000 words also includes three essays and a comic script.

Scott Nicholson is the international bestselling author of 15 novels, six screenplays, four children’s books, and four comic book series, as well as 80 short stories. His novels include LIQUID FEAR, CHRONIC FEAR, THE HARVEST, AS I DIE LYING, THE RED CHURCH, DISINTEGRATION, and more. Send your questions to his Amazon Author Central page by clicking on his name below the book title at the top of the page, or visit him at www.hauntedcomputer.com.

Guest contributors include Jack Kilborn, Jonathan Maberry, and Joe McKinney.

Look for the other Kindle box sets in the series, MAD STACKS and BAD STACKS, to complete your Nicholson story collection!

Without Mercy ~ Mystic Wolves ~ Belinda Boring

Without Mercy ~ Belinda Boring


from Goodreads "What would you do if a simple errand takes a deadly twist, turning you from cautious prey to dangerous predator? 

When Darcy's outing takes a turn for the worst and tests her to the point of breaking, she struggles to maintain her humanity. Where loyalty and pack mean everything, she surrenders to the inevitable and only an act of complete trust can touch her. When all is said and done, with memories flooding her mind, Darcy holds tightly to the only thing that makes sense - it was all a dream. Or was it?"

Where to start with this one? Well I picked this up as a freebie on Amazon. It is the first installment of a three Novelette series. After looking on Amazon today it appears that all three have been combined into one novel under "The Mystic Wolves".


So lets start with the good. What I liked was that Belinda Boring had decent character development considering the length she was dealing with. In reading "Without Mercy " it  felt more like a large excerpt than a stand alone story so I'm guessing combining all three was a good idea. The author was able to establish her werewolves and get across to the reader what it meant to be a werewolf in her world. gain a pretty surprising feat considering the short amount of time she had to express it. 


What I thought could use a little improving was Darcy's actions once shifted into wolf form. Now its important to note that Mrs Boring's werewolves seem to have an internal struggle, similar to Patricia Briggs werewolves where both wolf and human seem to reside in the same body. Now since I enjoy Patricia Briggs version of the werewolf this two halves fighting is not what bothered me. *Spoiler* My concern was that when Darcy was so wrought with rage and the wolf took over instead of just killing her prey Darcy played with him. Her behavior was far more cat like than wolf like. Which would be fine but if you go to all the trouble to talk about the importance of the pack structure and wolf behavior than I think you need to go the extra mile and have the wolves act like wolves. Chase him down, rip his throat out etc.. Don't taunt him like a cat playing with a mouse.


Anyways overall I'd give this short story a  2 1/2 out of 5 stars. If the other two novelettes apear for free I may pick them up, but this is one I'm sure I won't buy.

Angels & Demons ~ Dan Brown

Angels & Demons ~ Dan Brown

Well I'm guessing two things are going to stick out about this book being on my blog. Number One being that it was released some time ago, unfortunately its been sitting on my to be read shelf for some time. Number Two is that it not a paranormal or fantasy book. Well I like to break up my reading from time to time so there may be a few random reviews added here or there. Now on to the book.

Angels & Demons follows the story Harvard Professor Robert Langdon as he travels through Rome trying to thwart an Illuminati plot to destroy the church. In Dan Browns usual fashion, the story is fast paced and well thought out. The descriptons of places and people are just long enough to give you a visual without boring the readers. I also enjoy how Brown in able to incorporate interesting historical facts along the way.

This story line also dealt with some pretty advanced scientific technology. Sometimes when authors try to tackle things of this nature the facts get confusing for the reader. Not so in this novel. The scientific jargon    was there but completely understandable. I will tell you that I have just recently finished another book that involved CERN ( Flash Forward ) so I was already aware of some of the information Brown explained.

Overall I enjoy Dan Brown as an author. His characters are well thought out and express depth. His writing is both easy to get through as well as informative. The story is fast paced and exciting. The twists and turns will keep you guessing while you get to glimpse pieces on and ancient city most of us will never be lucky enough to visit.

I'd give this novel a 5 out of 5 stars

Free Today

Well I just found this free book on Amazon. Its free today so you should probably hurray up and grab it!

Blood Wager
by
Connie Suttle

From Amazon : Lissa's life as a vampire begins on the day her husband is removed from life support. Turned by rogues who wager her life, Lissa is running from her maker who is determined to kill her, hunted by the Council who has branded her a rogue and blackmailed by werewolves, who utilize her newly-developed talents for their own gain.


Come on now Vampires, werewolves, Lissa running for her life, sounds like the making of a good series, oh and it always helps if the first ones free.

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
I was lucky enough to score a copy of this as an e-book for free last year. I have to say this was one of the first e-books that I really enjoyed. The story follows a teenage girl and her journey trying to save Anastasia Romanov. Preble transports us back to an era long passed but much talked about as Anne dreams about that fateful day in Russian History.

This story was easy to get through, with enjoyable characters. It was surprising how uplifting the story felt  considering that outcome of the Romanov family. I have always found the mystery of Anastasia to be an interesting one and I do believe Preble has done an excellent job with it. This is a young adult book so it made for easy reading, just the type of story to curl up with on a cold winter day.

I'd give this book a 4 out of 5 stars, as long as you consider the YA status

The Blood Lily Chronicles ~ Julie Kenner

The Blood Lily Chronicles by Julie Kenner is actually divided into three different books.
Tainted
Torn
Turned
The series follows a young woman named Lily who after her death is given one shot at redemption. She must become a demon assassin. The twist is that since Lily has died she must come back as an assassin in a totally new body. Her task is to kill as many demons as possible while preventing the opening of the ninth gate of hell and a pending apocalypse. So much for any easy day job. Of course Lily task is made even harder by the fact that she has left a kid sister behind and can't seem to let go of the past, and of course by the hot bad boy who keeps showing up at all the wrong times.
I don't want to give too much away so let me just say that overall I did like the series. Personally I think it could have been rapped up nicely in two books but the author obviously thought differently. For me parts in the middle of the second book and of the last book seemed to drag a bit. Not that it was boring, those parts just felt more like fluff.
I will warn you though, if you are from the Boston area the first few chapters from Tainted are very tough to stomach, I mean really, has Julie Kenner ever been to Boston? Just because someone works at an Irish bar does not mean they talk like they are in a pub in an old Irish movie. Ugh. I swear every person who's seen the Departed thinks they know what Boston's like. If a friend hadn't given me the series to read I may have just put the book down. I am glad I pushed past the strange Boston stuff because the story line was pretty good and different enough from anything else I've read this year to make it worth the effort.

I'd give the whole series a 3 and a half out of five stars. With Tainted being the best of the three.

The Trouble with Spells- Lacey Weatherford

Let me start by saying I picked up this ebook free on Amazon. The Trouble with Spells by Lacey Weatherford was listed in the Amazon/Kindle top free 100 books so I figured I'd give it a shot. I usually steer clear of "witch" stories as I tend to judge them a little harshly.

This is a YA drama which follows a coming 16 year old girls who comes to realize that both witches and magic are real. The bigger shock for her comes when she finds out that she is in fact a witch and she inherits a fair amount of interesting powers on her 16th birthday. Of course the story wouldn't be very interesting un less there were some crazy evil magic wielding villains  and a super powered hunk for the main character to fall for.

I find it hard to rate this book because it is your typical YA girl meets boy, evil force tries to take boy away, drama ensues. That being said there were a few interesting twists and it wasn't a bad story over all. I did break down and buy the second installment but as it was much of the same I decided not to bother getting the third book.

Overall I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. I'm thinking a teen might give it a 4 out of 5.

The Radleys ~ A Novel ~ Matt Haig

The Radleys ~ A Novel ~ Matt Haig

"Your instincts are wrong. Animals rely on instincts for their daily survival, but we are not beasts. We are not lions or sharks or vultures. We are civilised and civilisation only works if instincts are suppressed. So, do your bit for society and ignore those dark desires inside you.The Abstainer’s Handbook (second edition), p.54" taken from the first page of The Radleys

The Radleys is an interesting twist on the modern family drama. Set in England the story follows a family of "abstainers" who are trying to conduct themselves as regular humans. In order to help their children better assimilate Peter and Helen have never told them of their true nature. Their pasty skin and insomnia explained away as symptoms of some disorder.
This is obviously a life half lived as the Radley family soon finds out the hard way. When their daughters "affliction" turns deadly the whole family must band together and possibly unearth some well hidden secrets in the process. Although this is about a vampire family it is not a vampire story as much as a story of family struggle. So many families deal with issues such as drug use, infidelity and just plain unhappiness that it is easy to understand the Radleys and even feel bad for them.
As far as the Novel itself it seemed to flow well. Haig has divided it up into nice short chapters and has clean changes of POV keeping the pace fast and not at all confusing. The characters are both likable and surprisingly real, considering they are in fact vampires. In the end we learn you must embrace your true nature if you ever hope to be happy.

I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars :)

Welcome!

Well here we are at my very first Blog post! So let me introduce myself. My name is Delia and I am an avid reader. When not taking care of my son, horses or working as a photographer you will find my nose in a book or eyes glued to my Kindle (which I love by the way). I do also enjoy looking through Goodreads to find new books and chat with other book lovers.
With this blog I plan to review books as I read them, but possibly review some of my old favorites as well. I may throw in some commentary in regards to can't miss movies and TV shows just to dice this up here and there. :)