December 4, 2017
Cathadeus Book Spotlight
In Cathadeus, it has been six hundred years since the Alchemists fused together men and beasts to form strong, mindless slaves.
About Cathadeus
It has been six hundred years since the Alchemists fused together men and beasts to form strong, mindless slaves. Now, their most vicious creations have attacked the mystical Walking Gates, slaughtering their Keepers and isolating their cities. Wounded in the brutal attack, Braxton Prinn’s mother is on the verge of death and he makes a desperate journey to find the reclusive elven master who can save her. But when he discovers an ancient magic, Brax is caught up in an even greater struggle and soon finds himself hunted for his power. Drawn into the chaos of an impending war and pursued by enemies on all sides, Brax must fight to save his mother and her race from slipping into darkness. Though his untamed magic may be the greatest threat of all.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, Indiebound and Barnes & Noble.
About the Author
JEFF J. PETERS was born in South Africa and immigrated to the United States as a teenager, where he fell in love with all things fantasy. He obtained degrees in digital electronics and computer science and worked as an IT professional for more than twenty years. In 2014, he left his corporate position to focus full-time on writing. Cathadeus is his debut novel. He is currently working on the sequel.
The Giveaway!
Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I received no compensation for this post.
December 1, 2017
Rondi Bauer Olson’s ‘All Things Now Living’ Blog Tour and Giveaway
While on a scavenging trip with her father, Amy is accidentally trapped in New Lithisle in Rondi Bauer Olson’s All Things Now Living. At first her only goal is to escape, but when she meets Daniel, a New Lithisle boy, she begins to question how less-than-human the people of New Lithisle are. Amy’s feelings grow even more conflicted when she learns she didn’t end up in New Lithisle by mistake. Her father is secretly a sympathizer. Time is running short and Amy has to decide if she will bring the computer program her father wrote to his contact or save herself. Installing the program could prevent the dome’s collapse, but if Amy doesn’t find her father’s contact in time, she’ll die, along with everyone else.
Stay up all night reading this thrilling new book from Rondi and enter to win a Kindle Fire!
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A copy of All Things Now Living
- A Kindle Fire
Enter today by clicking the icon below, but hurry! The giveaway ends on December 14. The winner will be announced December 15 on the Litfuse blog.
December 1, 2017
Colorless Audiobook Review
In Domengrad, there are rules all must live by: Fear the Gods. Worship the Magicians. Forsake the Iconoclasts.
About Colorless
To Annabelle Klein, the rules laid down by the Magicians are the mere ramblings of stuffy old men. As far as she’s concerned, the historic Iconoclasts, heretics who nearly destroyed the Magicians so long ago, are nothing but myth. She has much more important matters to worry about.
Heiress to a manor mortgaged down to its candlesticks and betrothed to her loathsome cousin, sixteen-year-old Annabelle doubts the gods could forsake her more.
Then Annabelle is informed of her parents’ sudden and simultaneous deaths, and all of the pigment drips out of her skin and hair, leaving her colourless. Within moments, Annabelle is invisible and forgotten by all who know her.
Living like a wraith in her own home, Annabelle discovers that to regain her color she must solve the mystery behind her parents’ murders and her strange transformation.
Meanwhile, hundreds of the Magicians’ monks, with their all-black eyes and conjoined minds, have usurped control of Annabelle’s family manor. An Iconoclast is rumored to be about—a person who they claim goes unseen, unheard, and lost to memory, yet is the greatest threat to all of Domengrad. For the first time in a hundred years, the monks plan to unleash the dire wolves of old.
Their only target: Annabelle.
My Thoughts
In this novel we are transported to a fantasy world of magic, religion and myths. The audiobook opens with a little bit of background information and the death of our main character, Annabelle’s parents. Their death marks a huge turning point in her young life, a parent passing away is awful enough for a young child but in her case it becomes even worse. Annabelle begins to lose all of her colour – it literally drips off of her. To top it off anything she touches loses its own colour – her furniture, paintings – everything she holds dear. Slowly everyone forgets her and it is almost like she has never existed. What I found amazing was that animals could still recognize her presence and a few special people who want to help her.
The monks in this story are maddening and creepy. They make you feel angry and wish they would just leave Annabelle alone. She is fighting for her life against the monks and you want to be able to defend her every step of the way. You are constantly on the edge of your seat the whole book waiting to see what happens next for her.
I listened to the audiobook of this novel and I really enjoyed the narration of the characters. It was easy to identify by voice alone who was speaking and the narration really helped to bring the characters alive. The monks voices especially! They leave you with this yucky feeling and that you want to lash out at them on Annabelle’s behalf.
This was a fantastic audiobook although the beginning left me a bit confused as I tried to follow the history, I would have loved to have known a bit more about the history and religious beliefs in the beginning but it doesn’t affect your understanding of the novel throughout.
You can purchase a copy of this audiobook on Audible and Amazon.
Rating: 4/5
About the Author
Rita Stradling is the author of Ensnared, Making Bad Choices, The Deception Dance series, the Dakota Kekoa series and The Fourteen Day Soul Detox Novella Serial. She has a BA in Art History and a particular love for modern and medieval art.
Rita lives with her husband and son in Northern California.
She has an insatiable novel addiction and mostly reads young adult and adult: romance, paranormal, urban fantasy and high fantasy.
About the Narrator
Lauri Jo Daniels has had her nose in a book since before she started kindergarten and has been reading stories out loud to anyone who would listen ever since. Her mom has always said that from the moment she was born she has never shut her mouth, so it just makes sense that she would make a living with her voice.
It was this love of reading that inspired her to major in English Lit and later to become a Young Adult Librarian and it was this career that introduced her to the wonder of audiobooks. She began dreaming of narrating them one day herself. Today that dream has become reality.
Lauri Jo has a very versatile sound and a knack for character voices, both skills that truly bring a story to life. Those skills and her passion for storytelling have made her dream a reality.
When she’s not busy trying to organize the chaos of 2 teenagers and 6 animals at home, Lauri is producing material from The Huffington Post, Slate, and Playboy for SpokenLayer’s news podcast, SpokenEdition, voicing Alexa flash briefings for Biden’s Briefing, and narrating news and short stories for Medium Members while working on her next audiobook masterpiece.
Book Trailer
The Giveaway!
Colorless Giveaway: $20 Amazon Gift Card or Colorless Swag
Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
November 28, 2017
A Wedding At Two Love Lane Book Review
In A Wedding At Two Love Lane, never say never to love!
About A Wedding At Two Love Lane
Greer Jones has made a real name for herself at the elegant matchmaking agency Two Love Lane. For a lot of reasons―including a past engagement she broke off―practical tech expert Greer is more interested in the business of love than the experience of it, but she can’t help but covet a gorgeous wedding gown that’s the prize in an upcoming cocktail-party contest. In a moment of brazen inspiration, Greer asks a handsome Brit she’s only just met to accompany her to the party. He agrees―and Greer believes her date is a starving artist. Little does she know the truth.
Ford Smith, as he calls himself, is actually Stanford Elliott Wentworth Smythe, the Eighth Baron of Wickshire. Fresh off a breakup with a money-grubbing siren who deceived him all the way to the altar, Ford has no desire to fall in love―especially with Greer who, like the desired wedding gown, is beautiful but only skin-deep. But soon Ford realizes that there’s more to Greer than meets the eye. Her professionalism is matched only by her passion for life and love. . .and, best of all, she has no idea that he’s to the manor born. Could it be that true love is priceless after all?
My Thoughts
This novel was by far my most favourite in this series. You have Southern drama, a British baron, the most amazing wedding dress and a whole lot of schemes!
You can’t help but love Greer – she is a woman who knows her mind and is not ashamed of it at all. She has been planning the wedding of her dreams her whole life, regardless of the fact that she had no groom. She receives flack for this but she still continues on. In the beginning of the novel, we find that she had refused a marriage proposal from her long time boyfriend, which personally I find amazing. She knew in her heart marriage to him was not right and instead of going along with the flow, she trusted her heart and ended the relationship (this is important to the plot later on!). Greer does not quite fit in with the other Southern belles and I love her character for her uniqueness, her loyalty to her friends and her desire to find true love.
She meets Ford, a handsome artist with a background that he is not quite willing to reveal. He allows everyone to believe that he is a starving artist and a very talented artist. From the moment he meets Greer he is drawn to her. He originally wants to just paint her but realizes (very slowly I might add) that there is something special about her.
Their feelings and beginnings of a relationship play out in the background of a crazy contest to win the wedding dress of Greer’s dreams. The pair come together in a staged engagement in order for Greer to win the dress but instead of winning the dress, they learn many valuable lessons along the way including forgiveness, healing and hope for the future.
This was an amazing novel from start to finish that had me laughing, shaking my head and keeping my fingers crossed for the best!
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Kieran Kramer is a former journalist and English teacher who lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her family. She’s a game show veteran, karaoke enthusiast, and general adventurer.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
November 28, 2017
Veronica and the Volcano: STEM for Girls Book Giveaway
Girls + Science = WIN! Veronica and the Volcano combines earth science with incredible action!
About Veronica and the Volcano
Veronica and the Volcano by Geoffrey Cook is an exciting adventure story for grades 3 – 5 about a brave, curious young girl named Veronica, who lives on the side of a volcano. Eruptions are a part of life, as she watches from the protective shields of her home or from her family’s well-equipped Lava Car.
When Veronica leaves on a quest to find rare white volcano pearls on the far side of Mount Mystery, she leads her father, her best friend Maddy, and her friend’s dad, the blustering Captain John, into a series of incredible adventures. But when the colossal volcano erupts, fears wins an election, and Veronica must square off against a fear-mongering villain: the Man-in-White.
Cook’s story blends science with science fiction, straddling the world of the believable and fantastical and combining the latest earth science with incredible action. While writing, Cook extensively researched volcanoes, even visiting one. The most important volcanoes in the book are all based on real-world volcanoes like Krakatoa, Crater Lake, Mt. Pelee, and Tambora.
In Veronica and the Volcano kids will root for Veronica every step of the way, and while they are cheering her on, they’ll learn as well. Complementing STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) curriculum, the book is filled with educational elements about volcanoes, geysers, caves, and the wonders of physics. A glossary in the back provides an at-a-glance list of the facts in the book.
Artist Gabrielle Shamsey lavishly illustrated the book with many dozens of wonder-filled and vivid images of volcanoes, caves, eruptions, and more.
My Thoughts
Veronica and the Volcano was an exciting adventure from start to finish.
The novel takes place in a very interesting world built upon volcanoes, where lava eruptions are a normal part of life and so are special homes designed to withstand the heat and special cars that can even drive in lava (for limited amount of time!). It is in this setting that we have our main character Veronica who is off on a quest to find pearls from Mount Mystery. She has a special connection through her Grandmother to pearls and wants to find some for her Mother. Veronica is a very special young woman, she is fully of curiosity, kindness and brave.
She decides to embark on this journey with her best friend but they are not allowed to go without their Fathers (who also happen to have very differing beliefs about their historical past and technology in general). This is when the excitement really begins! They face many obstacles and near death experiences but it is through their wit and amazing technology that they escape.
Near the middle to end of the book, death is mentioned as well as a prophet like figure who demands the sacrifice of all of the first-born daughters of the town. I did not find it frightening and also liked how Veronica thought outside of the box to come up with a solution to oust the lies of the prophet and save the young girls.
Veronica and the Volcano is a well written novel with excellent illustrations included. Young girls and boys alike will love the excitement and unique plot of this novel as it takes you on an amazing adventure unlike one they have ever heard of before.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Geoffrey is a serial entrepreneur and public company CEO. He is the CEO and co-founder of The Meet Group (NASDAQ: MEET) and previously founded EssayEdge and ResumeEdge from a Harvard dorm. He runs 5 mobile apps with 10 million monthly users, so he is always thinking of new ways to use technology to engage a global audience.
Geoffrey started telling Veronica and the Volcano stories to pass the time with his daughter Madeline on the twenty-five-minute drive to school every morning. She enjoyed his stories, and so he wrote them down.
Veronica and the Volcano is available on Amazon and at selected independent bookstores. Find out more at geoffreycook.com and connect with the author on: Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
The Giveaway!
My US and Canadian readers, 18 years of age and older can now enter to win one copy of Veronica and the Volcano via the Rafflecopter form below – good luck!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.