Nocturnal Book Reviews

Thanks to a wonderful Melliane from bilingual French-English paranormal and urban fantasy blog  Between Dreams and Reality who agreed to give me a hand and guest review here. As usual with Melliane, her review will be posted in English and French.
If you don't know her yet, come and say hello. You can also find and stalk this wonderful mademoiselle on Twitter .

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles (Leaving Paradise #1)

bought

Synopsis from Goodreads
Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

 Amazon  US/UK | Amazon kindle US/UK | The Book Depository US/UK

8/10

I didn’t really know what to expect at the beginning of this book, but with all the wonderful reviews I read, I was really curious to discover it. Well, I was also a little anxious because I’m quite difficult with contemporary romances but this one was a nice surprise. Indeed, once started it was a really fast read (It took me nearly 2 hours to finish it).

Hi, peeps!

Betsy found me through Goodreads over a year ago, and thanks god she did! She is an avid reader with very similar taste to mine in books, and a generous and wonderful person. We keep recommending reads to each other which otherwise we would not find, and it's because of Betsy I found many an amazing book, that's why I consider her my personal book guru. Lots of love, chica, and thanks for helping me out.

You can stalk Betsy on Goodreads.

The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard by Jillian Stone is my favorite with just the right mix of sexy romance, mystery and action.



The Pride by  Shelly Laurenston is an epic, epic series of screwball sexy shapeshifters whose love and bickering know no bounds. It's erotic and hysterical all in one series.


Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne is an amazing and cool contribution to the UF world.



 Arcadia Bell series by Jenn Bennett is charming and sexy. It features my most favorite teen: Jupiter.


LM Pruitt’s newest Winged Series is sexy, rough, compelling and difficult to put down. If you need more Archangels and Nalini Signh isn’t enough, don’t miss Winged.


The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan. These are currently my favorite teens in the UF world. I was not a YA UF fan but I am re-evaluating my position. Kami, Angela and Rusty are delicious, rich characters….and funny.


Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Epic YA urban fantasy.


Deadwood series by Ann Charles is laugh out loud funny with a heroine in her thirties, single mom with 9 yr old twins, bad career, poor prospects and unparalleled curiosity. Great series when you need a break from all the supernatural action.


Ink: A Novel by Bob Garick

I have a penchant for Urban Fantasy and PNR with a bit of weird. This genre can be a bit…formulaic…repetitive?

 Ink broke out of that formula when Bob Garick took on the Nanowrimo – The National Novel Writing Month in which folks write 50,000 words in November.

The result is a weird, super-snarky book about a twenty-something woman.

Our dubious heroine further plagues the PNR formula with confused narration, bad information, a house-load of assumptions and that's not even the good stuff.

 Tracy's boring life turns a huge corner one day at her local coffee shop. Rather than meeting the possible jerk of her dreams she falls into a rabbit hole of thugs, gangsters, espionage and endless amounts of fear. Ooh, and "ink" takes on a complex role in this story and is really a mystery character of its own. Did I mention this is a funny book? 'Cause it is hysterical. The dance-off scene has to be one of the top two funniest scenes I have ever read. Garick captured a young woman's disillusioned, urban coffee house snark perfectly.

Smolder by Penelope Fletcher

I confess that this is not my first or even second series by Penelope Fletcher. I thoroughly enjoyed her Rae Wilder series and her Beautiful Damned series as well. Ms. Fletcher is a young writer with tremendous talent, ambitious goals and concepts and provides an original voice for her characters. I greatly admire the energy that her work contains, and her fresh narratives.

Smolder was a charming and empowering tale for young women as she deconstructs a fairy tale world of princes, dragons, tournaments and royal spoils, and the result is riveting.

The regal dragons in this book live in a brutal world (fighting is to the death and using killing your intended's family as bait is a standard practice) which is on the cusp of evolving out of their Dark Ages.

Of course, our heroine, Marina, is just the push it needs. Ms. Fletcher’s ensemble of characters was extremely well drawn, and caricature was used for comic relief as in the case of Nicholai.

The fairy tale genre is turned upside down as women must battle in the field, in the wild and to the death to get their mates, and ultimately serve as their protectors. I enjoyed that Ms. Fletcher explored both sides of the "you are my mate and it is fate" view of insta-love and played it against "you are so good to me, make me feel great and we might have something here". Friendships, loyalty, kindness, love and grace all come into play and I loved it.

The Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk. 




There are nine books in the Allie Beckstrom series, and the beauty of the series is that it's finished and that you do not need to wait another year for the next installment…ahh, instant gratification. The books set a noirish stage in dark, drizzling Portland Oregon, and Allie’s lonely world is blown wide open by love, betrayal, family secrets, invasions, epic battles and strange, strange magic.

Nine books were not enough, but I have to tell you that this series did it RIGHT! The final book was the strongest one and tied up a lot of ends in a sad but also very satisfying way. I LOVED this series.

Karina tells me that my reviews are emotional, and I think it's true because I really reflect on how a book or series makes me feel. I consider how effectively the author makes you feel emotions as well as the environment of their characters. This series makes you experience a great deal of fear, joy, friendship, loss, passion and confusion. You also feel cold, wet, tired and sore…right along with Allie, Zayvion, Shame, Terric and my favorite sidekick, Stone.

There was a bit of ebb and flow in the series. Books three through five involved a lot of world building, character development and reveals but they necessarily established the conflicts and relationships that are critical to the conclusion. Folks, trust me, they were setting the stage, and it is worth it.

The final two books were especially strong and rocked my world. I rate them at 10/10. The great news is that this was not a series meandering along waiting for someone to put it out of its misery.

It had a vision, and by book eight you were in the thick of it and there were payoffs to a reader left, right and center... The magic dazzled me (typically I can find abstract netherworld phosphorescence a bit meh), but here I was on the edge of my seat, practically cheering, then crying and then holding my breath.

At some point I realized that this was not just Allie Beckstrom's story. She had the most AMAZING friends, colleagues, minions, co-workers and side-kicks in the UF world. I wanted all the characters to stay with me all the time (except that they have a lot of trouble and violence, so if we could just cut that part out...) I spent 50% of this darn series worried about the goshdarn gargoyle, Stone. I was going to start a letter writing campaign if things didn't work out for him.

Anyway, this is my list of reccs, and I'm sticking by it. Enjoy!

Karina: You see what I mean about Betsy? She always does recommend me something that I would never heard of otherwise, and I also learned to listen to her when she raves about a book. 

I haven't known Vika for very long but I stumbled on her blog few months ago and followed her insightful, well-thought reviews ever since. Thank you, V., for your help and for sharing mutual love for steampunk!

My name is Victoria and I am the creator of www.zemfirkablogs.blogspot.com. Though new to blogging, I’ve had a long-nurtured love for books, and am an avid reader. Aside my passion for reading, I am also an enthusiastic cook. Thus, combining my two favorite activities, the idea behind my blog was born, where I get to share my book reviews and an occasional recipe or two. If you would like to reach me, email me at zemfirkablogs@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter and/or Goodreads.

The Kaiser Affair by Joseph Robert Lewis (The Drifting Isle Chronicles #1)

bought

Synopsis from Goodreads
When a master thief escapes from prison, detective Bettina Rothschild must put him back behind bars before the scandalous fiasco destroys the Ministry of Justice. Her investigation leads from decaying cemeteries where ravens conspire to warehouses where wondrous machines are built in secret, and even to the fabled Drifting Isle above the city of Eisenstadt where an ancient tomb hides a deadly secret.

The relentless chase proves taxing for a young woman who relies on her cane and her steamcarriage to get about, but that's where a good husband steps in. While Bettina picks locks and interrogates suspects, her beloved Arjuna defends her from the most brutal and bizarre assassins in Eisenstadt.

But as the clock ticks down, Bettina finds too many questions still remain. How did the thief escape from prison? How can he afford to hire so many killers? And why would he go to the Drifting Isle only to steal a giant beetle?
 
Amazon  US/UK | Amazon kindle US($3.99)/UK(£2.73)

8/10

I am an equal opportunity reader, generally. Although I tend to focus on certain genres at times, I still enjoy a variety of reads. As of late my focus has been geared toward PNR and/or steampunk reads.

   Hi, Wesley! Thank you for coming and I hope you are ready for the interrogation interview?

In one sentence, what your book is about?

The Lives of Tao is a modern day sci-fi about an overweight loser who is inhabited by an ancient alien, and is drafted, kicking and screaming, to train and fight a war over control of humanity’s evolution. And cake. Okay, fine, the cake is a lie.

Where did your ideas for The Lives of Tao come from and how long did it take you to write this book?

The Lives of Tao is my first serious attempt at publication. I had previously written a 180k word monstrosity called Woes, Toads, and Crossroads. Yes, we shall never speak of it again. It was inevitably trunked but I learned so much from it that it made writing The Lives of Tao possible.

 I began working on the manuscript on and off in 2007 while *cough* being an officer in a World of Warcraft raiding guild. It wasn’t until Wow and I broke up for the 4th and final time that I began to take writing seriously. By the way, being an officer in a Warcraft raiding guild should be a requirement for future leaders. The amount of tolerance to BS a person develops is amazing.

If the aliens could really possess our bodies who do you think will be safe from possession or what type of person would they look for?

What type of reader do you think would be attracted to your book, Wes?

Have you ever read a book and thought "I wish I wrote that!"? If yes, what was it? :)

Any projects you are working at the moment?