I was one of the lucky few who was able to get a sneak peek at this collection whilst it was still being edited. Each tale gives the reader something completly different, yet still holds on to the theme of traveling between dimensions and the thrills that come with it. I’m used to being entranced by reading Miranda’s darker work and was a tad apprehensive as to how she would handle a sci-fi theme. I wasn’t disappointed. Continue reading →
Category: Guests
Review of Blood Crescent
A missing mother. A magical birthright. Can she uncover the secrets of her family legacy before the bloodline runs dry?
Sixteen-year-old Crystal Dylan thought magic only existed in storybooks. But everything changes when she finds out her long-departed mom isn’t dead: she was stolen away by the same power-hungry league now hunting her own enchanted blood. In search of answers, she must make sense of a hidden mystical realm and two mysterious protectors.
Victor is more than just the boy-next-door. As a shifter, he’s lost track of the many lives he’s led and the memories of his true self. But as he stands close to the beautiful Crystal, he can sense his past coming back into focus. So when dark forces threaten to drain Crystal’s powers, he may just have to risk an enchanted kiss that could save her life… or seal her fate.
With enemies closing in, Crystal must find her mom and uncover her magical destiny before her powers fall into the clutches of evil.
I have to be honest and say that this type of book is not my normal read, as you may already know I like my stories to be filled with horror, twists and the occasional blood curling death. Saying that this book surprised me, not just that its a cracking read, but that I found myself enjoying the tale despite the distinct lack of gore.
Blood Crescent is the first in a 3 book series and focuses on Crystal, a normal kid who has had to reinvent herself, hiding her past and growing up really quickly when her Mum disappears and her Dad abandons her. She lies about her age, gets a job and best friend and all’s good with her life. That is until she starts having occasional blackouts, memory lapses and interactions with two rather charming men.
I have to say that the initial setup, for me, took too long. I felt that we spent rather a long time developing the characters, especially Crystals struggles. Don’t get me wrong, this is nothing against the way the story was told, I’m just impatient and as the characters were so well developed, I got where we were going early on and just wanted to get to the implied madness that was coming.
As we progressed though the story I found myself getting a bit confused with the telling and the different character interactions. In all honesty I think this helped rather than hindered, as I was with Crystal every step of the way in her confusion and totally understood her frustration and fears.
Onto the men in her life. I was convinced that I knew at the beginning who was the ‘bad’ guy, Victor right? He was secretive, selfish (a bit sexy of course) and kept appearing at odd times when Crystal either just had a memory blank or had one straight after he left. Then sexy Damien swept in and saved her, so of course here was the ‘good’ guy. By the end of the book I was no longer sure. Damien was also selfish and seemed to want Crystal for what she could do for him not what he could do for her. All in all they’re both good and bad, I have no idea which one she should be with or even if it matters (LOL), all I know is that need the next book, hear that Stevie?, I NEED the next book, please, I NEED to know what happens!!!!
I think someone used to YA Paranormal of this type will be blown away by Blood Crescent. It has well developed characters, a very interesting story which has a long way to go, which is just as well as there are another two books in the series. I’ll be on the look out for book two as, despite not being my normal reading material, I just have to find out what happens next.
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STEVIE MARIE is the author of young adult paranormal fantasy and the Divine Series. Born within the apex of another universe, where magic flows like leaky faucets, and forged from the fires of the Underrealm she dug her way to Earth and reluctantly participates in human society, secretly returning to her home world to relay the stories of her monsters, and the troubled love of her people. When she isn’t writing she’s crafting clothing in her sewing room, cuddling her significant-other creature, or pretending to adult by managing a portfolio of properties for an accounting business in the rainy city of Seattle, Washington.
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Goodreads Book Giveaway
Blood Crescent
by Stevie McCoy
Giveaway ends August 31, 2018.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Review of Literary Stalker
If you value your life, don’t dare to suggest to Nick Chatterton that he’s not a good writer!
Nick is embarking on his latest crime/horror novel – a pastiche of the Vincent Price movie Theatre of Blood – where Nick draws up a hit list of his enemies within the writing world and gets his narrator to dispatch them according to the plots of classic crime and horror movies, such as Reservoir Dogs.
Top of the list is a writer who is both a superstar of the horror genre and who in Nick’s reckoning has wronged him the most. Nick first met Hugh Canford-Eversleigh at a reading more than a decade ago and fell madly in love with him, interpreting their encounter as the start of a magnificent affair. Nick’s feelings soon expanded into full-blown obsession, and he stalked Hugh, believing his love would eventually be returned. Nick was repeatedly rebuffed, much to his anger, but it was years later that his rage reached murderous proportions, due to an unexpected and outlandish twist of fate.
Now through his novel, The Facebook Murders, Nick is settling all his old scores, blurring the lines between autobiography and fiction – and with his obsessions reaching fever pitch, blurring the lines between writing about nasty stuff and doing nasty stuff for real.
Guest Post – My Movie Buff Literary Stalker, Roger Keen
When I constructed my literary stalker, Nick Chatterton, I tried to make him unlike myself in many ways – ‘…so people won’t think he’s me’ – as Nick says about his own fictional creation, Jago Farrar. I made Nick thirty-eight, gay, unemployed, with a full head of long hair, borderline personality disorder and a criminal record – none of which apply to myself. I also gave him a different profile as a writer to my own, though there are some similarities (we both wrote horror short stories for small press magazines). But in one particular area I fashioned Nick very much in my own image – I gave him my taste in movies and made him a movie buff.
Review of The Rest Will Come
Murder can be risky…and not just for the douchebags on the business end of Emma’s power saw.
Men only let Emma down. They cheat, and they lie. They send unsolicited pictures of their genitals. Ready to give up hope, Emma decides to go on one last date. Then it finally happens— she finds the thing she loves most of all.
Killing clueless jerks she finds on the internet.
Lost in a happy haze of hunting her victims, devising increasingly-clever killings, and streamlining her dismemberment process, Emma gets careless.
As her need for her murderous outlet grows, she runs an increasing risk of getting caught…or worse—falling for one of her victims.
*Tagline*
Murder might be her one true love…
Guest Post – The Horror of Expectations, Christina Bergling
I read a book once that argued resistance is the root of all suffering. Resistance is undoubtedly constructed from expectations. What we should be doing. What life should be like. We torture ourselves with all these imaginary rules.
Review of Blanky
I had no idea what to expect from Blanky, other than it touched on a subject most authors shy away from – the death of a child. Kealan Patrick Burke handles this subject well and I was swept along with the grief Steve felt, understanding his agonies and struggles with the bottle. When we were introduced to Blanky, a tatty little blanket his daughter had loved and kept with her at all times before her death and after as it was buried with her, I knew we were in for a different kind of tale. Continue reading →
Review of An Angel Fallen
Boy oh boy, I’m not sure where to start. I have to say this book kinda blew me away. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the synopsis (see below) but basically its about a couple of bored teenagers, Ralph a total head case and Mike the hanger on, who find the unexpected. Continue reading →
Guest Post – Andy Graham, A Non-Political Blog Post
So for the first time I’m handing my blog over to someone else, Andy Graham no less, and boy has he written up a doozy of a post. Read, Enjoy, comment if you feel the need. Continue reading →
Review of A Life Removed
Never having read any of Jason’s work before I didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a wee treat of a story, full of twists and turns, compelling characters and a normal cop thriller turned on its head.