Author: cvegnad

July 2, 2015

Promise of Mercy by Kurt D. Springs

Book Two in this series brings us Promise of Mercy by Kurt Springs.

About Promise of Mercy

‘Deirdre watched as Marisa turned and looked at her. She was shocked when she saw the child in her enemy’s arms. The Gothowan woman turned away to shield the child. Deirdre saw the child’s face. The child was looking right at her. Her expression was more curious than frightened. Deirdre knew she could take the fugitive without touching the child. She reoriented her aim, and her finger began to tighten.’

It has been twenty-five years since the events of Price of Vengeance. Deirdre and her sisters (Liam and Celinina’s children) have returned to their home planet of Etrusci after completing their training with the Finnian Shock Forces. Their homecoming plans are disrupted when their mother, High Priestess Celinia, and other leaders of the clergy are taken hostage, and their father, Colonel Liam O’Connor, disappears. In their desperate search for their father, they discover that the Rebellion is secretly building weapons that could end civilization as they know it.

Meanwhile, Liam has been befriended by a Rebel war criminal, a woman Deirdre has sworn to kill.

Will Deirdre cast herself into the role of judge, jury, and executioner, or will she discover the promise of mercy?

My Thoughts

I always fear a book in series because you never know if the second book will live up to how much you loved the first novel. Promise of Mercy was even better than I thought it would be!

In this second book, which is based twenty-five years after the first, we meet Liam’s and Celinina’s children. Their children have all of their powers, if not even stronger, and are carrying on their parent’s legacy. They are young, strong and determined to do what is right. The age of the characters really draws attention to the fact that you can achieve anything regardless of age.

In this novel, the focus is on mercy and what it can bring you in return.Liam could have held resentment towards the Rebel war criminal, instead he shows her compassion and mercy. Something that his daughter, Deirdre, struggles with. She wants to see her punished and will stop at nothing to ensure this happens. She must learn the valuable lesson that Liam learned in the first novel, Price of Vengeance. There is one shocking turn of events with regards to this Rebel war criminal, that to tell you would spoil the book but it definitely puts a unique twist on this novel.

You will not be disappointed with this second novel in this series, Promise of Mercy. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Kurt D. Springs is presently an adjunct professor of Anthropology and Archaeology in New Hampshire. He holds a PhD. in Anthropology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as a Master of Literature in Archaeology from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and a Master of Liberal Arts in Anthropology and Archaeology from the Harvard University Extension School. His main area of interest is megalithic landscapes in prehistoric Ireland. He also reviews science fiction and fantasy on his blog Kurt’s Frontier. You can connect with him online, Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

July 2, 2015

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June 30, 2015

Price of Vengeance by Kurt Springs

What is the Price of Vengeance?

About the Price of Vengeance

“Liam! What have you done? You know our teachings on revenge,”

“How can you defend him after what he did? To you, to Mom, to my birth parents, to everyone we cared about?”

With a howl of despair and emotional agony, Liam dashed forward, through the shade of his father, blindly running into the sewers.

What is the Price of Vengeance?

One could understand why Liam was angry. He was orphaned at the age of two by a group of giant carnivorous insects called the chitin. Adopted by High Councilor Marcus and his wife, Lidia, Liam was raised with their older son, Randolf in New Olympia, the last remaining city on the planet Etrusci. As an adult, Liam becomes a soldier. After being cut off from the city, Liam finds that there is an alien intelligence behind the chitin. To defeat it, he must discover who he is and how to use his powers. Then, Liam discovers that a traitor, responsible for his birth parents’ deaths, had murdered his beloved foster parents. Will the price he has to pay in his quest for vengeance prove to be an even more unbeatable foe?

My Thoughts

A fantastic, adventure packed science fiction novel that will appeal to all book lovers, with the added bonus of a valuable lesson to be had.

This novel is full of adventure and science, the world as we know it has changed greatly. The human race has been genetically modified and now have powers that we can only imagine (although I would love to have some of the Priestess powers!!). With this comes a whole new level of war, intelligence and power. This is held in careful balance but there will always be those who want to challenge this authority and power. The book gives you just enough of the scientific background to understand the novel but not too much so that you don’t want to keep reading.

The title of this book and the relevance to Liam, is realized about halfway through the novel. He has a difficult choice to make and must base this decision on more than just his feelings. Liam has been hurt in the past and we witness the truth behind who caused him to become an orphan but can he looked beyond vengeance and allow that to remain up to God to take care of. He has to be reminded of the exact price of vengeance – while it may feel good at the time, the negatives that come afterwards far outweigh the positives.

The Price of Vengeance will be a novel you will not want to put down! You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Rating:5/5

About the Author

Kurt D. Springs is presently an adjunct Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology in New Hampshire. He holds a PhD. in Anthropology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as a Master of Literature in Archaeology from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and a Master of Liberal Arts in Anthropology and Archaeology from the Harvard University Extension School. His main area of interest is megalithic landscapes in prehistoric Ireland. He also reviews science fiction and fantasy on his blog Kurt’s Frontier. You can connect with him online, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

June 29, 2015

Building A Family Budget with Your Children

How many of you have developed a family budget? This should be a budget that is reflective of your current accounts, debts, payments, as well as your future needs (RRSPs, RESPs and emergency funds). Now here’s the tough question: how many of you have shared this with your children?

The reason I ask this question stems from a conversation I had with my tween this weekend. A conversation that made me feel as though I had failed in including him enough in our income and budget preparation, as well as what kind of income is needed to survive in our current economy. A group of kids in his grade could not wait until they graduated high school so they could live on their own (to be young again!). When I asked about the amount of income they thought they would be bringing in, I was shocked by their response: $800 a month! I asked them if they felt they could survive on $800 a month. The reply: but of course we can! I know some people have no options and do work with similar budgets to this number but I feel as though we are failing them, as this is not an income that allows an individual to move forward and support themselves comfortably (and yes, I’ve been there too!).

While we have always been open with our children about our family budget, we clearly weren’t doing a good enough job at teaching them about our income, where the money was going to and how we were putting it away for the future. We were not exposing them enough to payments such as rent, mortgages, taxes and how quickly money tends to fly out of our accounts.

I kept asking myself: how can we get our son more involved? How can I make it easy for him to understand that living on a budget is necessary, but at the same time needs to be realistic and most importantly, how can I make this into something he can understand?

Step One: Lay It All Out There: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I took out all our current bills, city taxes, mortgage payments, our bill book, spreadsheets and laid them all out on the table for him. I also included my debt repayment schedule because I want him to know how easy it can be to rely on credit while at school and how this affects you as an adult once you graduate. We work through each bill and each payment, explaining the total amounts owing, basic interest principles and where our money is going to each month.

Step Two: Create a Brand New Budget

Using this new information, we drew up a brand new budget (not because we needed one but because I wanted him to learn about budgets and where our money was going to). Together, we listed all the required monthly payments we had to make (credit card, car loans, mortgage, day care, RRSPs, RESPs, etc.) as well as things such as entertainment and pizza fund money. These items are important too! Plug in those numbers and total them up. I bet your child will be quite surprised with that final number (I know I always am and maybe a tad nauseated too!).

Step Three: Incoming Money

Talking about your income with your child might be hard (I know it is for me), but it’s also important. They need to know that our funds are not endless, as much as they may wish it was so. We never had this conversation with our parents; I still would not be comfortable asking them how much money they make, as it just feels far too personal and invasive. Now you can total up all of your incoming income and payments.

Step Four: The Bottom Line Number

This part is simple: just subtract! Subtract your outgoing from your incoming to get your total remaining amount. I like to leave some in our accounts just in case something happens (the roof leaking, extra soccer payments and fundraising have been some of our last-minute emergencies). You can also chose something to do each month with your child with this amount, maybe a date night?

Your child may have plenty of questions after you finish creating this budget and this is healthy and normal. You want them to question finances with an open mind. This will be an important skill for them later on in life. You also want them to realistic; there’s nothing worse than the shock of financial reality once you move out on your own, especially when combining this with post-secondary education. Yes, they may be able to live on $800 a month, but how hard will it be? Letting our children become a part of the process of the family finances gives them confidence and allows them to understand their opinions matter. You may be surprised as to where they would like to see some of the money allocated to – more play time at our local gym was one that surprised me.

How do you let your child play a role in the family budget?

June 29, 2015

Her Sister’s Shoes by Ashley Farley

In Her Sister’s Shoes, three sisters try to balance the demands of careers and family, while remaining true to themselves.

About Her Sister’s Shoes

Samantha Sweeney has always been the glue that holds her family together, the go-to girl for love and support. When an accident leaves her teenage son in a wheelchair, she loses her carefully constructed self-control.

In the after-gloom of her dreaded fiftieth birthday and the discovery of her husband’s infidelity, Jackie realizes she must reconnect with her former self to find the happiness that she needs to move forward.

Faith lacks the courage to stand up to her abusive husband. She turns to her sisters for help, which in turn places all their lives at risk.

In the midst of their individual challenges, the Sweeney sisters must cope with their mother’s mental decline. Is Lovie in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, or is her odd behavior normal for a woman her age? No one, including Lovie, understands her obsession with a rusty key she wears around her neck.

My Thoughts

Remember the saying, to truly understand a person, you need to walk in their shoes? This saying holds true in this story. Even though the three women are sisters, they have different personalities, different communication styles and different lifestyles. All of which combines to make it hard to appreciate and understand the depth of what each other is going through. Isn’t it always easier to just assume that someone’s life is so much easier than our own? That they can not possibly understand hardship?

Throughout the novel, each one of the sisters experiences a life changing event, that gives each the opportunity to learn a lesson or to withdraw from each other. Their unique personalities show through the decisions that they make and react to a situation. The strong one crumbles and the passive one grows strong but through it all they learn that they need each other and that their bonds are stronger than they could have ever imagined. .

I loved how each of the women come through this book and how Ashley Farley uses life experiences that are very real (an affair, an accident and an abusive husband) to help us relate to the characters. You are drawn into the story and feel an emotional connection to each one of the women. At times you want to hug them, at other times you want to shake your head. But in the end, they provide valuable life lessons that we can all learn from. Her Sister’s Shoes will be a book you can cherish with your girlfriends, sisters and co-workers for a long time.

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Ashley Farley is a wife and mother of two college-aged children. She grew up in the salty marshes of South Carolina, but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, a city she loves for its history and traditions.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. SAVING BEN is not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings. You can connect with her online, Facebook and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.