King of Khoth (Dark Warriors Alliance, Book 9)
by Brenda Trim and Tami Julka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Finally in the ninth book we get to learn more of Angus' story. Angus in the dragon shifter king from Khoth, were Kryan and Mack got transported to and had most of their story. Angus has been stuck on earth for a thousand years looking for his mate Kierra, after she was kidnapped by Cryil and the portal back to Khoth was sealed.
Angus finally finds Kierra, but she doesn't remember him, or anything in fact, all her memories have been taken and she has spent the last year on the run with Cryil, so she doesn't know what to think when Angus finds her, but she doesn't tell Cryil about seeing him. So Angus kidnaps her back and takes her to Khoth, which Cryil told her was still sealed, so the first of his lies becomes evident.
Back on Khoth, Angus sets about to try to return Kierra's memories and win her love again, and at the same time repair the damage that has been done to the planet in the time that Angus has been gone.
This is another in the series that is wonderful and can't be put in any other words. This series lives on its own, and once you start reading it and get into them, you just can't get out of the series. Love it!!!
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Violca's Dragon (The Dragon's Ruby, book 1)
by Leilani Love
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I accidentally started reading The Dragon Ruby series with book three, Kassandra's Wolf, and having enjoyed the book so much and wanting to know more about the characters in the book, I found the rest of the series that had been published so far.
Violca's Dragon is the first book in the series, and the beginning of the story. Violca is the Hungarian for Violet, which I found a neat connection to as my children are part Hungarian, their grandparents on both sides are first generation american born from full-blooded Hungarian immigrants. We always are looking at different Hungarian things because of this.
This story begins with Violca, still learning the nature of herself and her sisters, and Chase, a dragon shifter that was sent to protect her. Although once Chase sees her he is sure that she is the one in this world meant for him, his fated mate.
This was a great start to the series, introducing the witch sisters, who will show up in future books, as I found them in Kassandra's Wolf, as well as found mention of Kassandra in this book. I love when the books intertwine together, it just makes them so much more fun to read. I am so ready to start the next book!
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The Awakening of Magic, Book One of the Wereding Chronicles
by Christian Boustead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
How to explain this novel without giving away the whole story, that has been my biggest question, because I want to give you enough that you want to read this - because it is definitely worth reading!! So bare with me friends, if this goes a little astray, for some reason, I have started and stopped this so many times, finding that I feel like I am telling too much.
Eloo, is a fae and her lover, Kye is a werewolf. They are out in the forest one day and rescue a human, Rose from an attack by someone they call Kain. Now why Kain is trying to kidnap Rose and take her away is a mystery and even after this book, it is still a mystery. We do get some glimpses into the fact that Rose is more than just a mere human, but what all her role is going to be is unknown. I'm still not sure what role Kain is playing in all of this yet, which is amazing! It just makes me want to read the next book all that much more!
Rose, was hard to like a first. She was a bit of a rich child, told to stay away from magic, and so even though she see's it's use for good, she still fears it as evil. There were times in the story that I just wanted to smack her! Honestly! It was like get it through your head that there is good and evil in everything, its how you use it, stop acting like everything is inherently evil. Ugh! But, at the same time, the fact that the author was able to write a character that evoked that much emotion from me was amazing! I usually do not get that upset at characters.
This book is the beginning of a series, The Awakening of Magic, and we watch the magic begin in this story, we meet the characters that will play the major roles in the rest of the story, and learn a bit of their backstory or history and yet it all works very well into a cohesive and compelling story. It's not just a telling of history. There is a purpose for the story.
At one point, the characters are traveling through a wasteland, area that was destroyed hundreds of years ago in a war, and there are the rusting remains of what used to be cars, but no one really knows what they are because they don't have that technology in the present time of the story, and I found that to be the greatest thing! The fact that the story is being told in the future, but that technology has progressed back and magic is more in use. Makes you wonder about our world now, are we over using our fossil fuels to the p0int that this is what we will become? Just a thought.
I found the story to be compelling, the imagery of the author to be breathtaking at times, and I got lost in the story. Yes, I got annoyed at Rose, but I think she can be redeemed, or at least I hope she can. I found like I liked the interplay between all the other groups. The fact that Eloo is a fae and has a werewolf as a lover, I mean that is perfect. Everyone needs to check this one out!
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Deviant Warrior (Dark Alliance, Book 3)
by Brenda Trim, Tami Julka
My rating: 4.8 of 5 stars
Kyran may be a Dark Warrior, he may fight demons and skrim on a daily basis, but he has his own personal demons that he has yet to deal with, instead of pushing them under the surface all the time and numbing the pain with alcohol and deviant sex.
Mackendra may hide the scars on the outside with tattoos, but the scars on the inside run just as deep if not deeper, and she is pretty stubborn once she gets an idea in her head. She's been told twice now that the villains she's been fighting aren't vampire like she thought but skirm, and that vampire are good, but she refuses to listen.
When good friend Elise has a premonition of a fire at her home, Kyran is there is rescue her before anyone else knows what has happened, only probably, somehow Kyran and Mackendra slip though a portal to another realm that no one can seem to open again. Now they are stuck together, and she still thinks he's the enemy, to find a way home!
Deviant Warrior is the story of Kyran and Mackendra, and although most of the book is focused on them in the realm they landed and their struggles trying to get home, we do see the rest of the warriors on this side doing everything they can to find a way to get to them to help. Turns out the Goddess knew what she was doing when she trapped them away from everyone else with only each other to depend on.
This is the third book in the Dark Warrior Alliance, and it is amazing in that is brings some light on the history of Kyran and Zander, their upbringing, and their parents deaths. Kyran has always blamed himself, even though he was still a child, and his mother pleaded with him not to show himself, to save his brother and sister. It takes a hard woman like Mackendra, who grew up without the loving family he had to get him to see through his guilt and pain.
I'm serious, I can't get enough of this series!! I have enjoyed them all and wanted to learn more are more about each character. I honestly hope that are at least two more planned beyond what is already planned. They have to to hit everyone in the family at some point, or at least I want them to hit everyone!!
Dark Alliance Series:
1. Dream Warrior
2. Mystik Warrior
3. Deviant Warrior
3.5 Mistletoe & Mayhem
4. Scarred Warrior - (originally slated to release 2015 - not released yet)
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Mortimer the Vampire: And Drake The Dragon
by Cameron Glenn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Forflick, Oregon is your typical small town in America. Nothing much to do as a teenager but hang out at the Carl's Jr/Green Burrito or the Dairy Queen. The cutest, most popular girl , which just happens to be Lizzy, dates the football star, Chad. Everyone talks of nothing more than getting out of the town and finding something more exciting! Excitement finds them, or at least Lizzy, the day a foreign exchange student Mortimer arrives. Lizzy decides to flirt with him, but he ignores her, which has never happened, then Lizzy starts dreaming of Mortimer. Now she is hooked, she just has to date him. Enter a second exchange student, Arielle and things get complicated. Mortimer actually likes her and talks to her, which peeves Lizzy, but help is on the way in the form of a third exchange student, Drake. Author Cameron Glenn writes a comical yet believable story of high school life and lust in Mortimer the Vampire, all told from Lizzy's point of view.
In Mortimer the Vampire, we get to learn how he became a vampire through the dreams that Lizzy has. The whole time she thinks that Mortimer is showing her his true self, and that he needs her. Lizzy is definitely your typical high school popular girl with nothing else on her mind but looking good, being popular, and dating. The trouble with the dreams are that we only see them in the very beginning, right after Mortimer became a Vampire, as he was still learning to deal with what he was and didn't like it. By the time Lizzy meets him in real life it's been a couple of centuries. Author Cameron Glenn does a wonderful job of weaving Mortimer's past into the story, making the reader feel for him just as Lizzy does. Not to spoil the story, but I should mention that there is also a wizard, a fairy, a werewolf and a dragon in this story. This is a good book for any age reader, even though it is focused on high-school aged. There is no real violence or sex in the book, so it's good to go for all readers. Enjoy!!
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Dragon Destiny (The Dragshi Chronicles, Book One)
by Helen Henderson
My rating: 4.7 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Take a step back in time, to a world when dragons flew the skies, travelers arrived on horse or foot, and trading caravans of horse carriages still existed. Branin is one of a rare breed, a dragon shifter, of dragshi, he can change form from human to dragon and back, but he is the last. There hasn't been another born in over three hundred years, and Branin has been alone. The dragshi can mind speak, and one day in flight Branin hears someone in his mind, all he is able to get is her name, Anastasia. That is enough, he puts everything and everyone he can into finding her. Anastasia is a trader girl, of immense intelligence, but feeling alone and that she doesn't quite fit in. When she meet Branin, he life feels so much richer, but he keeps so much distance between them and she doesn't understand why. Dragon Destiny is Branin and Anastasia's story, of finding each other, and of awakening in her, the sleeping dragon that only Branin believes is there. +Helen B. Henderson gives the reader a powerful tale of young love, of holding back, of understanding and of making life work.
Dragon Destiny is set to be the first book in a series and I can't imagine where the series will go from here! This book not only has Branin and Anastasia's love story, it has the jealous ex-girlfriend, although she thought she was more important than she was to Branin. Actually, she thinks she is more important than anyone, she takes the cake when it comes to narcissism, but she makes for some great reading at times. Author +Helen B. Henderson is refreshing, in that this book takes you out of the modern world for a time. You can read and relax in the calm of a world with no beeps, bings or bells. There is a richness in her writing that allows you to get into the characters and feel for them, you want them to succeed, and not just Branin and Anastasia the other characters in the book, the old ones, or the true dragons and the other dragshi. You find yourself being pulled into the story and not wanting to put it down. There is no sex at all in the book, there is some violence, I'm talking highwayman attacks on the trail and animal attacks, but they are not graphic at all. I would easily recommend this to teen readers all the way up to adults. Worth reading and one enjoyable read!!
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Dorelle's Journey (The Cloud Lands Saga) Book 1
by Hannah Steenbock
My rating: 4.1 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
In another land, at another time and in another place, dragons and their riders train for war. Dorelle and her dragon think as a team, they work together and her dragon helps her as much as she tells her dragon what to do. This does not sit well with her Commander, he believes that dragons are simple creatures that should do as told and never think. After saving another dragon and rider, which really steamed her Commander, Dorelle and her dragon sneak away at night, defecting from the army. Dorelle's Journey takes them to an uninhabited island, a lush island fraught with danger and finally another land and simple fishing village like she was raised in. Here Dorelle finds a new home, but when a threat to this village is exposed and the knowledge that it is heading to her own home, Dorelle must decide if she will risk going back. +Hannah Steenbock not only gives the reader a fantasy story, but a lesson as well.
Dorelle's Journey in the first book is what author +Hannah Steenbock is calling the The Cloud Lands Saga. It is a delightful little book, not too long at all, in fact it was a really quick read for me. You have dragons and an impending war that they are training for, and then good and bad guys in positions of power. It's everything you need. Oh and in case that wasn't enough, there is a little lesson on doing the right thing even if you could get hurt. This is a great book for middle schoolers on up. It doesn't really give an age for the dragonriders, but they feel about 13 - 14 to me, maybe a little older. I think it would be perfect for all ages to read.
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Storyland
by Dawn Napier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Memorial Day weekend that year was the same as any other year, except that come Tuesday the world would forever change. It became known simply as It, in the time Before and the time After. Storyland begins with a series of small chapters, each a brief scene into the life of a character that might show up again in the later story. Each of these scenes are labeled by time. Ten years AR, or Five years AR, or even Twenty years AR, and it gives you glimpses into how rapidly some things in the world changed and how slowly other things changed. In the remainder of the book, +Dawn Napier tells the story of Alicia and her life in the time after. Her struggle, her crusade, and what she must endure to survive in this new world order.
Storyland defies a genre label. It can easily be called a fantasy book, albeit a bit dark. It could be called a dystopian, or supernatural or even paranormal. It really doesn't matter what you want to call it, you just want to find it, take your time and read. I do mean to take your time, because as you watch the world crumble, you will be forced to think, to realize that no one is prepared for every possibility, and chaos can rule. +Dawn Napier does a wonderful job of bring classic monsters and demons from all the favorite writers of the past, and making them living, breathing characters in this world. Some just come into being, and other morph out of humans already on the planet. What is fabulous is how the author is able to give the perspective from those people as they don't understand what is happening to them, and they still try to retain some of their human qualities. As with any post-apocalyptic type world where chaos rules, there are adult themes in this book, nothing graphic, and not much, but it definitely belongs in the story when the author uses it. Therefore I recommend it for adult readers!
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