Ice Warrior: Dark Warrior Alliance, Book 13
by Brenda Trim and Tami Julka
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is Bhric's story....
Those of us who have followed this story have been waiting for Bhric to finally get his story, to change his ways and to become the warrior we all know he can be. Finally we have that story.
Alex Layne is a human doctor, working in the same hospital as Jace but still completely naïve in the ways of of the supernatural world. Fate is in control when Bhric is attacked by a rogue vampire bent on killing him and he is brought to the ER, Dr Alex is the one who takes care of him and instead of being completely frightened by him she is determined to keep him from becoming an experiment.
As with all the Trim and Julka books, this is amazing and so worth reading! I have loved every minute of this series and have read every book. That says something because ususally authors run out of ideas after five or six books, but here we are at book 13 and it is still as exciting and intriguing as book one.
View all my reviews
Embarkment 2577
by Maria Hammarblad
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite .
Alex awakes but can't remember anything, and she is certain she is dreaming when the doctor, or at least the person in the white lab coat turns around and has yellowish-orange skin. Wake up, wake up, wake up Alex screams in her mind but nothing changes. Everyone in the room keeps saying everything will be better when Adam gets her, who is Adam? It seems that Adam is an android from the year 2577 that landed back in present day, and Alex helped him to get back home, but in her final act of bravery she took a bullet that killed her in our time, and Adam brought to this time to be saved. Now she has to learn life all over. Embarkment 2577 is actually a collection of three small stories about Alex and Adam and life in the year 2577. Alex learns to live on the ship, and in each book it seems she causes some problem, without meaning to or knowing it. How the crew and her friends have to work to get her out of some sticky situations are what all these stories are about Maria Hammarblad does a wonderful job of adding in enough information facts to make you really feel like you are learning about living in space along with Alex but not enough to bore you.
Alex has the needy quality to her, but not in a bad way. She can take care of herself, but her she is in a completely new world and has no idea what to do. Adam is supposed to be an android, but he is more human than anything we've seen before. Maria Hammarblad gives us a real life feel in this science fiction novel. The aliens sound plausible and interesting. If anything Embarkment 2577 make me want to delve more into science to see if we can't make some of this come true.
View all my reviews
Albatross: Birds of Flight
by J.M. Erickson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Alex Burns has seen it all in his tour fighting terrorism, but upon finding out some classified information he is starting to think differently about his job. Too bad his bosses don't agree, next thing Alex knows he is the target of friendly fire. He survives but has no memory, so the government is watching him closely. What starts off the plan called Albatross is the government's disregard for anyone else. When they think Alex knows something, they start trying to kill off anyone he might have talked to, which doesn't sit well with Alex. J. M. Erickson takes you into the mind of a special forces agent done wrong, and a government that has no problems in killing innocent people to keep secrets. Add to that those innocent people who managed to get away and it's no so much revenge as a way to get the government to leave them alone they are looking for.
From the very beginning, when you meet Alex Burns and all through the times he and Dr. Caulfield are together, you learn of a man with so much more to offer than what he was trained to do. You come to feel for Alex and Dr. Caulfield. You sympathize with the life that Sam and Becky had to live through and you want the best for them, and you even understand why they are doing this. Albatross also reveals the dark side of governments, especially when certain areas have too much control without any supervision. J. M. Erickson tells a believable yet at the same time unbelievable story of a man slated to be knocked off by his own government, and what happens when they don't do the job and he is left to act later. This is a great read for anyone, you will be swept away with the intrigue and suspense.
View all my reviews
Divided against Yourselves
by Bill Hiatt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for +Readers' Favorite
Divided Against Yourselves is the second book in the Spell Weavers series, but unlike a number of series this book can be read on it's own without having read the first book and without feeling lost. Tal is a teenager dealing with reincarnation, in fact he is the reincarnation of the original Taliesin, a bard in King Arthur's court. Tal has successfully to this point merged his past lives together with his present life quite well. His best friend Stan is also a reincarnation, but his is not going so well. He past life as King David wants to take control too often. Even after defeating the witch Ceridwen last Halloween, Tal and the guys think they can relax and go back to normal life, only for Tal to be surprised by the appearance of Morgan Le Fay, who help Ceridwen at Halloween. Tal and his warriors work to figure out what Morgan wants and how to protect everyone at the same time. Bill Haitt does a wonderful job of weaving a magic tale into a modern day high school and making it work.
This is the first book I can remember reading that took on the reincarnation topic as a theme to the magic. It was novel of Bill Haitt to think of that plotline for a story, and it made this story compelling and interesting. It also opened a number of question that have me asking what is the next book after Divided Against Yourselves. I found the teenagers in the book to be real and remind me of my own teenagers at home, some of the bantering between the boys is stuff I hear coming from the boys in my sons room all the time. I felt the story was well developed and the action scenes would entertain and keep a good range of boys interested in reading. There is a puppy love vs. true love kind of thing, you know the kind that happens when you're sixteen through that along with the magic would keep girls reading. There are so many different side stories and themes in the book that are weaved together so well into a complete story that it will appeal to a great variety of readers.
View all my reviews
Dreamers
by Ted Farrar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dreamers is a title given to a certain set of people in a research study. They have the ability to change facts in their dreams and to actually enter and interact with the dream almost as if they were awake. The research study has a found a few of these people and until the story starts, Wilson Cole figures he is the only one. As the story progresses we find that Ted Farrar is taking us on a rollercoaster ride between the dream world and the real world. Suddenly characters from the dream world are showing up in the real world, and Bill is finding his own life in danger, along with that of the research scientists. Bill must find other dreamers from the study and try to figure out what is going on and what to do to stop it, before more people die.
The twists and turns that Dreamers takes are more than equal to a rollercoaster. The ideas and concepts seem so far from the reality of the world we know, that at times it takes a second reading to catch the latest turn. The turns always come at the last moment, and never seem to come from where you are thinking they might. Ted Farrar created a wildly complex book, that is not for the faint of heart. It is not your typical easy read novel, but one that will require you to think and delve into your mind and your own dreams to follow the story and find the conclusion. This is definitely a thinking mind's novel.
Reviewed for +Readers Favorite.
View all my reviews
The Art of Forgetting - Rider
by Joanne Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed by Michelle Randall for Reader's Favorite.
Take the stories of knights on horseback, armies defending the Queen, and those crusader type stories from the 11th and 13th centuries, now place them in another world and you have The Art of Forgetting. Rhodri is a young boy, found in the woods, who no one quite knows what to think of. He has a perfect memory, but the people are scared of him, so life in his village is rough. Enter the Kings Third army troop and Rhodri's life is about to change forever. You follow him as he joins the army, trains and becomes a good solider. Watch as he makes new friends, grows and creates a relationship with someone much older than himself. Joanne Hall does a wonderful job of writing so that you forget this takes place on another world for the most part, it could be the story of anyone of the 11th to 13th centuries.
Joann Hall is a wonderful writer and has done a beautiful job in crafting a fantasy story that almost feels like a historical novel. The Art of Forgetting is set on another world, with two moons; yet for most of the book you almost forget that focusing solely on the army life of this young boy and his friends. If you like the adventures of the crusaders, the bravery of the knights and romance of the early centuries, then you will enjoy this novel. It brings all those elements together, places them on another world and adds some modern romantic situations to make for a compelling new novel.
View all my reviews
