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Frost Burned Review

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Title:  Frost Burned

Author:  Patricia Briggs

Published:  March 5, 2013, by Ace

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Fantasy

Click here to buy Frost Burned from Amazon.com

 

 

 

Mercy’s having a bad day.  She gets in a car accident with her stepdaughter while shopping on Black Friday.  Then she can’t get in touch with her husband, Adam, or anyone else in the pack.  Turns out the whole pack has been kidnapped.  It’s up to Mercy to keep Adam’s daughter safe, and find out who is behind the kidnapping without getting hurt or kidnapped herself.

This is one of my favorite series, and the only reason I waited months to read it was because I’ve been so busy.    Patricia Briggs doesn’t disappoint in this book.  Even though it had been a while since the last book in the series, I felt like I knew the characters immediately.

I don’t have too much to say about this book, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  This is one of my go to series.  The main character, Mercy, is a mechanic, and one of a kind.  If you enjoy werewolves, fae, and vampires, but not in a corny way, pick up the first in the series, Moon Called, and give it a try.

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

 

~Pam

Alpha Gene Review

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Title:  Alpha Gene

Author:  Angel M. Huerta

Published:  2013 by White Goblin

Genre:  Science Fiction, Fantasy

Click here to buy Alpha Gene from Amazon.com

 

Imagine being able to lift a car, move objects with your mind, and become invisible at a moment’s notice.  Doctor Lucas McKenna had been researching a gene that would make this possible for years.  He was just about to make a presentation on this gene when his research partner is murdered, and Dr. McKenna is to blame.  He is found not guilty and relocates to a small town, where the alpha gene that he had researched and imagined for so long is shown to him through children, right before his very eyes.  These almost teenagers feel alone with their powers, but Dr. McKenna takes them in under his wing, and helps them learn to control their abilities.  And with each other these kids find confidence, fight bullies, and learn to accept themselves.

The story starts out with Dr. McKenna as the main character, and it’s told through his point of view.  But then it shifts to the children’s stories, mostly Peter.  I think it would have been helpful if it then switched to Peter’s point of view instead of third character because I always felt that first person pov made the story more ‘real’ if you will.

One other thing that would make me stop the story in my tracks was all the spelling and grammar mistakes.  Some words are spelled right, but just in the wrong form, for instance, “Go take a sit, kid, any seat,” (p. 58).

And then, there was the constant age change.

For young Peter, the road trip had been torture.  A twelve-year-old kid, confined to the back seat of a car for six hours, that’s almost like prison time.  Peter was a smart kid, not grades smart but street smart.  The ten year old was kind of tall for his age, had black hair, and sported a few freckle here and there. (pgs.49- 50)

See what I’m saying?  I had to not think about their age and just assumed they were somewhere in between 10-12 years old.

One last bothersome thing was the fish, Merlin.  Peter was still getting used to his powers, and Merlin the fish ended up on the floor.  Peter’s mom came up when she heard the ruckus and “by the time she pulled it out of the back of the desk, the poor little creature was breathing no more.” (p. 124).  Of course it wasn’t breathing, it’s a fish!  They breathe in water.  Yes, maybe the fish was dead from suffocation or from the force of being thrown out of an exploding fish tank, but we don’t know for sure because they didn’t try to put it back in water.  (I’m just saying, cause my fish once jumped out of the tank before I knew to put a cover on top.  When my husband found it we thought it was dead, but we put it in the water and it lived another year!)

Okay, on to the positives.  It was a good story!  This is Mr. Huerta’s first book, and I think he did an amazing job.  If it wasn’t for the grammar errors, the age change, and point of view issues, I probably would have rated it higher than I did.  But for what it’s worth 3 ½ stars is still a good rating.

 

My Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

~Pam

*****I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.*****

The Curse Giver Review (the conclusion)

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Title:  The Curse Giver

Author:  Dora Machado

Published:  2013 by Twilight Times Books

Genre:  Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

Click here to purchase The Curse Giver from Amazon.com

 

 

I did a partial review of this book a while back here.  Life got busy, but I finally got around to finishing it!

I love when the main female protagonist has strong character.  She knows what she wants, she’s been through a lot, but yet she still pulls through.  Lusielle was definitely that kind of protagonist.  She put up with an abusive husband, was almost executed, and tries to help Bren stop the curse that was put on him and his family.  It’s just refreshing to see a confident woman, who while in love with someone, doesn’t lose herself, you know what I mean?  Especially seeing that she is baseborn (lower class) and a woman, she still holds her own against men.  It’s just nice to see.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was, “The difference between doom and grace is hope.” (p.296)

Anyways, the author, Dora Machado, is a great writer.  Very talented.  And since I pretty much reviewed the story in my previous post (as much info as I want to give away), I’ll just say that it was a very well written book, and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

 

 

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

 

~Pam

 

*****I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.*****

I, Walter Review

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I, Walter

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Title:  I, Walter

Author:  Mike Hartner

Published:  2013 by Eternity4Popsicle Publishing

Genre:  Historical Romance, Fiction

Click here to buy I, Walter from Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

 

Walter is living in tough times with his family in Elizabethan England.  His father thinks things will get better, his parents are constantly at odds with each other about money, and his older brother has left home and is nowhere to be found.  Walter decides he’s had enough of this life, and sneaks off to live on his own.  He manages to survive by himself, and eventually finds his way onto the ship of the royal navy as a member of the crew.  On one of his first trips he finds a kidnapped girl, Maria, on a defeated pirate vessel.  He brings her aboard the navy’s ship to safety, and so starts their relationship.  Walter continues to rise in ranks in the navy while trying to earn Maria’s fathers approval for marriage by making money and being successful.  Walter meets with fortune, loss, and a lot of adventure along the way to win Maria’s hand.

Walter, to me, is the epitome of the perfect person.  He is almost too good and rich in luck.  Maybe this is because of his poor upbringing, but sometimes in the book I was just like, really?  He succeeded again?  I guess he just had good instincts and business sense.  Another thing that bothered me was how he just up and left his parents one day without a word.  I think this bothered me so much because I am a parent, so I would be heartbroken if that happened to me.  But times were definitely different back then, and Walter did go back to his parents and make amends.  Maybe that was supposed to be the one flaw in his otherwise perfect character.

I also felt that maybe this book was categorized wrong.  It’s supposed to be a historical romance, but I felt like it was definitely more of an action adventure book.  That’s not a bad thing, just something that I noticed.  Walter and Maria were definitely in love, but I felt like it was missing that special spark and feel of a romance novel.  The adventure part of the book was much better than the romance, in my opinion.

Now that the negatives were addressed, it honestly was a good book.  I bet you weren’t expecting that after all those remarks, but it really is a good story.  When I started the book I was planning to go to bed early, but figured I’d start I, Walter and read a few chapters first.  All of a sudden it was 1:30 in the morning!  The story obviously held my attention, and I really enjoyed Bart, who is a secondary character, the second in command on the ship.

If you’re looking for an adventure on the high sea, pick up I, Walter for a quick, fun, read.  I can easily see this book turn into a movie one day.

 

My Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

~Pam

*****I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.*****

 

 

About the Author:     Mike Hartner

 

Mike Hartner is a father, son, author, patriot, geek (ret), and husband.  His love of all things genealogical led him to writing, and writing has now led him to fiction and a large epic saga.  He lives in Vancouver, BC with his wife and son.  His latest book is the historical romance, I, Walter.

Visit his website at www.accidentalauthor.ca.

Connect & Socialize with Mike!

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The Curse Giver “Partial” Review

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Title:  The Curse Giver

Author:  Dora Machado

Published:  2013 by Twilight Times Books

Genre:  Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

Click here to buy The Curse Giver from Amazon.com

 

So this is what happened.  I signed up for a book tour to review The Curse Giver for today.  I ended up moving, and the book went to my old address.  The new owners opened the package thinking it was for them (it should have been forwarded to me by the post office).   Don’t hate on the new owners though; I think they just got married and probably just thought it was a wedding present or something.  Then when they figured out it wasn’t for them, they gave the book to their neighbor (my previous neighbor, hi Jane!) who I’m friends with to contact me.  So…I just got it a week ago and I’m only a quarter of the way through, which is why I can only provide a partial review today.  That being said, here it is!

 

I love when I start a book and immediately get sucked into the story.  That means the author has some serious talent because I’m a hard critic to please.  As I said, I’m only on partway through  (page 141 out of 414) but if this book keeps going the way it started, then it’s going to be big, a best seller perhaps?  It definitely has the feel of one.

The story starts when a baseborn (lower class, if you will) named Lusielle is being tied to the stake to be burned to death.   Her own husband accused her of practicing the forbidden odd arts (which she didn’t).  She doesn’t understand what’s going on or why this is happening to her.  Then her husband lights the fire meant to kill her.  A few moments later, commotion arises, and Lusielle is rescued.

Her rescuer is Brennus, the Lord of Laonia.  Bren, however, has his own agenda; and although he just rescued Lusielle from her death, he believes that he will have to execute her himself, to save himself and his people from a curse.  Bren keeps coming up with excuses though, as to why it’s not the right time to kill her, and I’m pretty sure Lusielle isn’t going to hang around to meet her doom, if that is what he still intends to do as the book carries out.

Sounds good, right?  The one thing that I am having trouble with is all the character’s names.  I just feel like a lot were introduced in the beginning, but I’m sure as the book goes on I won’t have to think about who is who anymore.

I really can’t wait to read the rest of this and give my final review.  But as of where I am in the book, I definitely recommend it.

 

My Rating:  Coming Soon!

 

~Pam

 

*****I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.*****