Giveway

I've decided to host my first giveaway. 

Check out the giveaway page for 

more information.

Lightning by Dean Koontz

Lightning by Dean Koontz

Now this is an older novel you may have missed. Originally published in 1988 its totally worth the read if you missed it the first time around.

From Wikipedia
A storm struck on the night Laura Shane was born, and there was a strangeness about the weather that people would remember for years. Even more mysterious was the blond-haired stranger who appeared out of nowhere again and again to save Laura from tragedy.


 Ok now on to the review. Laura feels like an ordinary girl who lives a life wrought with tragedy. Her mother dies when she is being born. Her father dies when she is eight and she is forced into an orphanage where a child molester takes interest in her. But the truly strange thing is that at each of theses events an amazing lighting storm takes place and a mysterious man appears to try to save her. 


 Koontz always has the ability to really suck you into a story and keep you guessing. Most of the story is written focused around Laura's life but what we don't realize is that all of the important stuff is hiding behind the scenes so to speak. It all comes to a climax when Laura's husband is killed and the mystery man is forced to up his role in Laura's life, eventually appearing to try to save her, and her son, one last time.


 Now I can't get into the most exciting part of the book without dropping a big spoiler, so if you don't like spoilers you should probably stop reading right now. Ok so anyways on to the big details. So it seems our mystery man is actually a scientist from the past. He works at one of Hitlers secret labs and is part of a team working on time travel to help Hitler win the war. Stephan (mystery man) has fallen in love with Laura do to her books, she is a writer, and has felt the need to help save her from a handicap she was to have in her original future due to a malpractice issue. In saving her from this fate it seemed that Stephan had sent Laura's life in a different direction with each incident seeming to be worse than the last. Now Stephan feels the need to save her from each of these horrible events.


 What I really enjoyed about this book, besides the characters, is the science. I love the thought of time travel but unless you believe is simultaneous timelines its hard to believe that you could go back in time and change things. That being said it seems to be more believable that you could go forward in time to change things that have not happened yet. 


 Even if you are not a time travel nut like me I think the characters are compelling and the story line so fast paced at the end that Lightning will hold your interest.


I give Lightning a 4 out of 5 stars

TOURZ DE CODEX: The Homegrown TOUR HOST

Hi everyone!

I will be taking part in my first book tour for "The Homegrown" by Harry Deshpande's. My date is Feb 21st so hopefully you will stop by to see the review and Author interview.

~Delia

The Wolf Gift ~ Anne Rice

The Wolf Gift ~ Anne Rice

Let me start off by saying Anne Rice is truly a master story teller. This is actually the first of her novels that I have read (other that The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty and thats obviously a very different kind of book) I've had The Vampire Lestat sitting on my TBR shelf for some time so I think its time to dust it off and get to reading it. Just a warning there are going to be some spoilers in this review.

Now onto the description (taken from Netgalley)

The time is the present.

The place, the rugged coast of northern California. A bluff high above the Pacific. A grand mansion full of beauty and tantalizing history set against a towering redwood forest.

A young reporter on assignment from the San Francisco Observer. . . an older woman, welcoming him into her magnificent, historic family home that he has been sent to write about and that she must sell with some urgency . . . A chance encounter between two unlikely people . . . an idyllic night-shattered by horrific unimaginable violence. . .The young man inexplicably attacked-bitten-by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness . . . A violent episode that sets in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation as the young man, caught between ecstasy and horror, between embracing who he is evolving into and fearing who-what-he will become, soon experiences the thrill of the wolf gift.

As he resists the paradoxical pleasure and enthrallment of his wolfen savagery and delights in the power and (surprising) capacity for good, he is caught up in a strange and dangerous rescue and is desperately hunted as "the Man Wolf," by authorities, the media and scientists (evidence of DNA threaten to reveal his dual existence). . . As a new and profound love enfolds him, questions emerge that propel him deeper into his mysterious new world: questions of why and how he has been given this gift; of its true nature and the curious but satisfying pull towards goodness; of the profound realization that there are others like him who may be watching-guardian creatures who have existed throughout time and may possess ancient secrets and alchemical knowledge and throughout it all, the search for salvation for a soul tormented by a new realm of temptations, and the fraught, exhilarating journey, still to come, of being and becoming, fully, both wolf and man.

   Lets start by talking about Anne Rice's interesting take on the werewolf. Rice moves towards a more traditional Wolfman style werewolf who, as apposed to transforming into a full wolf, becomes a large man covered in fur with both wolf and human qualities. The "Morphenkinder" as Rice calls them are a race of human hybrids. Not truly man not truly wolf they are drawn to help others or more accurately the Man Wolf is drawn to the smell of evil. 

   The moral dilemma for Reuben, the main character, arrises when he is forced to face his Man Wolf actions while in his human form. How can a human man raised in high society not feel remorse when he brutally kills another human being? But what if that murder was to save an innocent? Does enjoying that killing make it wrong? These are the questions young Reuben is faced with as he learns what and who he has become. 

   Rice has the ability to slip truly moral questions into a fast paced and truly interesting story line. I enjoyed the fact that her Morphenkinder retain there human consciousness while in their wolf form. It is also important to note that they don't shift by the faze of the moon but rather by their own personal choice. The characters are rich and enjoyable. Felix is a man you would like instantly in person which makes his character seem to jump off the page. You can easily feel the love building between Reuben and Laura, which can be tough with such a demanding, fast paced story.

   Overall everything seemed to flow beautifully. I had such trouble putting it down that I was up till far too late reading. It has been a while since a book has grabbed me from the first page, but this one did right away. I only wish that I had purchased it in paperback so that I could pass it around to friends.

   The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice gets a 5 out of 5 stars and should be pushed to the top of your TBR pile!

The Department of Magic

The Department of Magic By Rod Kierkegaard, JR

From Amazon;
Magic is nothing like it seems in children’s books. It’s dark and bloody and sexual - and requires its own semi-mythical branch of the US Federal Government to safeguard citizens against everpresent supernatural threats.

Join Jasmine Farah and Rocco di Angelo - a pair of wet-behind-the- ears recruits of The Department of Magic - on a nightmare gallop through a world of ghosts, spooks, vampires, and demons, and the minions of South American and Voodoo gods hell-bent on destroying the world in the year 2012.

Only Rock and Jazz, in the company of a ragtag team of urhobos - homeless guardians of the District of Columbia - can prevent it by resurrecting “Goddess America” in a mystical ceremony on the Fourth of July.

It’s all just a normal day on the job at The Department of Magic - where new employees entering its offices are never seen again, while mysteriously continuing to draw full salaries and benefits, sometimes for decades or even a century after.

With a magical cast of characters and a wry insider's view of the US Federal Government, here at last is a Harry Potter for grownups.


As you can see from the Amazon description this story follows the sometimes hapless adventures of Rock and Jazz, two new government employes who have no idea what it is they have been employed to do. The world around them is suddenly revealed to be seeped in magic and mostly awful creatures who are pretending to be human beings. We are introduced to a number of new and horrifying creatures. Most of which Jazz and Rock encounter while trying to get the personal effects of George Washington. Think Warehouse 13 but instead of Random artifacts we are after stuff like George Washington's teeth. 
Lets take a moment to talk about the characters. Jazz starts off as a spoiled brat, worried more about her appearance than about anything else. Rock seems like a broke well meaning doormat, still being strung along by an ex-girlfriend he can't seem to forget about. The two instantly hate each other, which of course means they are going to like each other a whole lot in the near future. As the story progresses we see both characters begin to change, feeding off the adrenaline of their jobs. Jazz seems to worry she's being corrupted but Rock just appears that much more manly making him even more attractive to Jazz.
The story line did start to drag a bit in the middle until the birth of Tink, a human/vampire born to Rock and his then girlfriend (Jazz's best friend) Bobbi. Bobbi as it turns out had been dead for some time and been replaced by a crazy shapeshifting vampire. Once Tink shows up the story really picks up. I actually flew through the end and found myself wanting to read the next book.
Overall I'd give this a 4 out of 5 stars. Even though the start was slow the book really grabbed me.  I understand the need to set the stage for the world we are reading about and that can take a few chapters, so I'm going to cut him a little slack. I also enjoyed the casual political digs. Since it seems all of these otherworldly creatures spend their days working in American politics or running Homeland security. If your looking for a change from the usual fantasy novel this one is worth your time.

Blog Hop

Well I'm going to be participating in my first Blog hop run by Crazy For Books :)

Thunder Of Time

Thunder of Time by James F David

From Amazon ;
Ten years ago, the prehistoric past collided with the present as time itself underwent a tremendous disruption, transporting huge swaths of the Cretaceous Period into the world of the twentieth century. Entire neighborhoods and cities were replaced by dense primeval jungles and modern humanity suddenly found itself sharing the earth with fierce dinosaurs. In the end, desperate measures were taken to halt the disruptions and the crisis appeared to be over.

Until now.

Slowly at first, but with increasing frequency, time begins to unravel once more. What's worse, Nick Paulson, Director of the newly-formed Office of Security Science, discovers that the time displacements are being manipulated by unknown parties, utilizing a mysterious new technology. Indeed, the very integrity of the space-time continuum appears to be at risk.

To preserve both the future and the past, Nick and his allies must uncover the secrets hidden within in a lost temple at the center of a dino-infested jungle-and in an enigmatic structure on the surface of the moon. But they are not alone in their quest. A cult of ruthless fanatics is also intent on controlling the time waves, and they will stop at nothing to reshape history to their own design . . . .



I just have to start off this review by saying WOW, I mean really WOW. I picked this book up as a hardcover at the Dollar Tree (yes they do sell books) and I wasn't expecting much. Boy was I surprised. This was an amazing story, a fantastic cross between Jurassic Park and Timeline (two of my favorite books) Mr David has put just enough science in the story line to keep it both believable and just out of reach. The characters are well thought out and well developed.

Something else I really liked about this novel was that at the start of each chapter was a little excerpt that lead into the chapter. Often it was a quote for a "newspaper" or "Dinosaur textbook" that helped to add a bit a realism to the story line. The author even threw in a few quotes from famous scientists like Albert Einstein immersing  the reader in the science of this science fiction.

Now I'm going to put some spoilers in here so look away if you haven't read the book, I don't want to ruin it for you. One of the main reasons I enjoyed this story was that I loved Davids use of time travel theory's as well as the multiverse theory. As we follow Nick, John and Elizabeth in different parts of the country we have no idea that Kenny is traveling back and forth between time and space shaping the world as we know it.

This is actually a sequel to the book "Footprints of Thunder" which I have no had the privilege of reading. The novel works well as a standalone but I will pick up Footprints if I happen upon it, and its on sale! Overall I really enjoyed Mr David's writing style. Once I hit page 200 I had a hard time putting the book down. He has built a world of suspense with twists and turns at every chapter. I have to say with the amount of novels I read, there are not many that I would give 5 stars to and this one deserves 5 stars in my opinion. I will be keeping my eye out for more books by James F David and I think you should too!