Tagged: romance
Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom by Anthea Sharp
(Cover picture courtesy of Orca Books.)
THEIR LAST CHANCE…
Jennet Carter and Tam Linn are almost out of time. Feyland, the most immersive computer game ever designed, is about to be released into the world—along with the Realm of Faerie’s dangerous magic.
WIN THE GAME…
The faeries, desperate to break free from their realm, have set treacherous plans in motion. Despite magical allies of their own, Jennet and Tam have no idea what dire threats await, both in-game and out.
OR DIE TRYING…
Battling for their lives against the united powers of the Dark Queen and Bright King, Jennet and Tam’s quest to stop the fey takes them into the perilous Twilight Kingdom, where illusion reigns—and magic can break all the rules.
[Full disclosure: Anthea Sharp provided me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]
The Dark Queen and the Bright King have formed an alliance to get into the real world and it’s up to Jennet and Tam to stop them. But how can they fight the two most powerful beings in Feyland when they can’t even access the game anymore—except as part of the beta testing team consisting of a professional gamer, Roy Lassiter from The Bright Court, Zeg and Jennet’s father.
So it’s up to Tam and Jennet to find a way around the beta testing’s constant monitoring and find the Elder Fey, the only ones able to stop the alliance. Since the only way the fey can survive is by entering the real world, they certainly have motivation to sabotage Jennet and Tam’s plan and go so far as to kidnap the Bug, Tam’s little brother. The Changeling replacement for the Bug is hilarious, but there’s still the very serious fact that the Bug could be killed if Tam and Jennet don’t succeed in their plan.
With a description like that, you can tell The Twilight Kingdom was extremely fast-paced. There were some great plot twists that kept me guessing until the end and the plot was so fast I couldn’t put the book down. I just had to keep reading to see what happened, even though I had to work early the next morning! Yes, it was that good.
My favourite portion of the book was Tam and Jennet’s relationship. Not because I’m a romantic (I’m not), but rather because of how their relationship and characters develop. They’re not crazy possessive of each other like you see so often in YA, but you can definitely feel the passion between them. And guess what? Anthea Sharp has written it so that their love feels real; it’s not the shallow, possessive lust a lot of YA writers pass off as love. At the same time, Tam and Jennet have great character arcs as their own characters. They learn to trust one another, but also that some of their own preconceived notions were wrong the whole time.
With the best characters I’ve seen in a long time, excellent world-building and a crazy fast-paced plot, Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom is a great resolution to a great trilogy. It also gives a little preview as to what the spin-off trilogy, Feyguard is all about.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Giveaway: The Devil of Ponong Series by Jill Braden
Today I’m lucky enough to be doing a giveaway in conjunction with author Jill Braden and her publisher, Wayzgoose Press. For my review of The Devil’s Concubine, her first amazing book, see here. For my gushing review of her even more amazing second book, see here. The fact that I gushed in both reviews should tell you all you need to know about how awesome Jill Braden’s writing is and how lucky you would be to win a copy of her book. Just follow the Rafflecopter link below and spread the word!
This giveaway will run from today (September 23) until midnight on October 6. Winners will be announced on the seventh and in addition to the prizes listed, there might be some more special swag thrown in. Who knows?
My Interview with John Heldt (2)
John Heldt is the self-published author of The Mine, The Journey, The Show and now The Fire, all books in his Northwest Passage series about time travel. Every single one of his books has a fascinating combination of history, romance and humour. Read on to see John and I discuss writing emotional scenes, researching and a possible continuation of his originally planned five book series.
1. There are some very emotional scenes in The Fire. How do you as a writer strike a balance between touching and melodramatic?
I enlist the help of others, that’s how. What is just right for one person may be too sappy or too dry for others. By getting the perspectives of beta readers representing both genders and a variety of ages, I’m usually able to determine whether an emotional scene needs to be rewritten or left as is. Continue reading
Dark Genesis by A. D. Koboah
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Life for a female slave is one of hardship and unspeakable sorrow, something Luna knows only too well. But not even she could have foreseen the terror that would befall her one sultry Mississippi evening in the summer of 1807.
On her way back from a visit to see the African woman, a witch who has the herbs Luna needs to rid her of her abusive master’s child, she attracts the attention of a deadly being that lusts for blood. Forcibly removed from everything she knows by this tormented otherworldly creature, she is sure she will be dead by sunrise.
Dark Genesis is a love story set against the savage world of slavery in which a young woman who has been dehumanised by its horrors finds the courage to love, and in doing so, reclaims her humanity.
I’ve been putting off doing a review for Dark Genesis for two weeks now. It’s not because I’ve forgotten the plot lines and character names and have had to re-read it or because it’s so horrible I don’t have the energy to write a review. No, it’s because of how amazing it was.
Words really don’t do this book justice. It evokes so many different emotions in the reader from happiness to despair and everything in between. I’m not the sort of person that cries over books frequently, but believe me when I say the waterworks were on for this one, especially at the end. Just when you think you know what’s going to happen, the author sends a huge plot twist your way that you’re desperate for the next book.
Dark Genesis is a book with a strange sort of beauty. A. D. Koboah’s descriptions and vivid imagery are absolutely unmatched; you’re instantly transported to Luna’s world. Yet the topic that features in her book, slavery, is anything but beautiful. Koboah didn’t flinch away from all of the horrors slaves like Luna had to face and one of her greatest strengths was how she portrayed the effects of such treatment even years afterward.
On the topic of Luna, she is an incredible character. She’s now one of my favourite heroines ever not only because she was such a strong woman but because she had to go on a long journey of self-reflection to become that woman. The time she spent with Avery really did change her, even if the scars from her years of enslavement were still beneath the surface. Avery too was a very flawed character and you don’t really realize the depth of his sorrow until the end of the novel. He’s not your typical vampire the same way Luna isn’t your typical heroine. I won’t go into much more detail than that because I don’t want to spoil all of the good parts for you.
The plot remained relatively fast-paced despite being a mainly character-driven novel. That in itself would have been quite impressive if not for the fact that there were so many plot twists. Believe me, you may be able to predict some of the twists but most will blindside you in a good way. I read Dark Genesis two weeks ago and I’m still reeling from that final twist at the end of the novel! It’s hard to believe that this was A. D. Koboah’s first novel. I don’t expect this level of awesome from many established authors, yet here I am writing this review.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t like vampire novels. If you like any sort of character-driven novel or even just plain historical fiction, go and download Dark Genesis this instant. It’s free on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as an ebook so it’s not like you’re losing anything by taking a chance on this wonderful novel.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Spotlight: Prophecy of the Setting Sunrise by Diantha Jones
Spotlight is my weekly feature in which I highlight a book I’m really looking forward to or really enjoyed. This week it’s a book I really, really loved: Prophecy of the Setting Sunrise by Diantha Jones.
It’s official. Myth is doomed.
And it’s all Chloe Clever’s fault.
Still as whacked out as ever, Chloe is now faced with an even uglier truth: Not only is she the Pythia of the Great Unknown, but she is more powerful than she ever imagined and only the manifestations of her prophetic mind can save them all now.
With her Prince boyfriend, Strafford, and the Quad Fraternity always armed and ready to annihilate the opposition, she will embark on a mission to stop a great power that could consume every god in Myth…and everyone else she’s come to love.
But the worst is still to come.
[…]
This is just one of those books you zoom through then want to start again immediately after you’ve finished. It’s also one of the rare sequels that doesn’t get bogged down in the details necessary to set up the third book. Both of these things are rare on their own, but together they make Prophecy of the Setting Sunrise an incredible read.
Not only do we learn how Strafford came to be in disgrace, Chloe develops more and the Great Unknown Prophecy is beginning to fall into place. Here we have a fantasy book with the fast pacing of an action/thriller novel and Diantha Jones has also managed to weave in aspects of Greek mythology seamlessly with the modern era. There are believable explanations for why nobody knows about the Greek gods in the modern era, as well as a believable system of how the gods operate and how they’ve managed to stay immortal.
I’m not the biggest Strafford fan out there, but at least he isn’t your typical jerk Prince that you find in YA. No, he has a believable backstory as to why he was such a jerk in the beginning and he’s actually moved beyond that, another rarity. Say whatever you like about him, but at least he’s able to change, unlike a lot of bad boy types in literature and movies.
If you haven’t already read Prophecy of the Most Beautiful, you need to. Right now. And once you’ve read the first book, you’ll devour the second book and be desperate for the third, which comes out sometime this summer.