Jacqueline's review of Salted by Aaron Galvin

Reviewed by -- Jacqueline Driggers

Book Review of -- Salted by Aaron Galvin

My overall star rating -- from 1-5 -- 5

Get it on Barnes & Noble

Get it on Amazon

About the book:

Life isn’t better under the sea.

Lenny Dolan is all too familiar with this reality. A Selkie slave in the realm beneath the waves, he has no choice when charged with leading a crew ashore to capture an elusive runaway. If unsuccessful, the loved ones kept behind will pay for his failure with their lives.

But when their target leads Lenny and his crew to deeper, darker secrets, the Selkies are faced with a moral dilemma. Secure their own freedom at the expense of others, or return empty-handed to face the grisly consequences?

How Lenny and his crew answer the question will teach them the harshest truth of all. Only through the loss of innocence does one become Salted.

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 30 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 10

-- Cover & title -- 10

-- Editing & formatting -- 10

* based on a 1-10 scale with:  1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10, very good.*

My 5 point review:

-1- This is a very good book, and very well written.  I enjoyed it a lot.

-2- There is a somewhat sad note that runs throughout the book, but it totally works with the storyline; and enhances the story.  

-3- It doesn't have a particularly happy ending for much of anyone in the book, but there is a sequel coming.

-4- The author manages a wide cast of characters very well, and it is the characters that keep you reading.  They're very memorable, and ones you will want to get to know better.

-5- It's a very unique and imaginative story idea.  I enjoyed it very much.

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- fantasy, science fiction, paranormal

Age recommendations -- 17 and up

Sex content rating -- minimal

Violence rating -- moderate

Coming Nov. 24th - the sequel -

Taken With A Grain of Salt

www.aarongalvin.com

Anyone can be taken - a simple truth for Salt folk, a stark reality for innocent teens Garrett Weaver and Kellen Winstel. Kidnapped by Selkie slave catchers and dragged into the realm beneath the waves, both teens must adapt to their new surroundings if they hope to see the shore again. Yet even if they escape their captors, both will need to embrace their fears. For darker things than Selkies lurk in the Salted depths and not all of them have pure intentions for the innocent ones brought down into their watery world.

Review of the sequel coming.  

-- jd --

Maegan's review of The Contaminants by Devin K. Smyth

Reviewed by – Maegan Schaefer

Book Review of – The Contaminants by Devin K. Smyth

My overall star rating, from 1-5 -- 5

Get it on Amazon

About the book:

When America attempts to "purify" earth to maintain its own dominance, it sparks a worldwide nuclear holocaust. Teen friends Jessil and Soraj are among the few survivors. They escaped on a cruiser that now orbits the planet and is designed to help regenerate the earth's ecosystem. Soraj’s father leads the regeneration process and is hopeful that he can salvage a region in North America for the cruiser’s return.

But when Jessil discovers a message indicating her own father may have survived the holocaust back on earth, she’s determined to rescue him immediately with Soraj's aid. Can they succeed even though the planet they return to is very different from the one they left—and that their success could mean failure for the regeneration process? (from Amazon)

Book creation ratings:

Overall total --30  out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 10

-- Cover & title -- 10

-- Editing -- 10

* based on a 1-10 scale with:  1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10, very good.*

My 5 point review:

-1- This book in the beginning reminded me of Wall-E but soon I realized that the Earth was getting purified not coved in trash.

-2- This story takes place in space and on the purified earth. 

-3- Each place was had wonderful descriptions of so I could actually visualized them.

-4- The story end with resolving some conflicts but leaving the door open on others, wonder if there might be second one.

-5- I loved that the purified Earth adapted to the things that humans did to it.

Reader Recommendations

Genre – Sci-fi

Age recommendations – Teenager and up

Sex content rating -- none

Violence rating – not too much detail in this just a handful of fights near the end

Wendy's review of Rey de Noches by Sean Torres

Reviewed by -- Wendy Walker        

Book Review of -- Rey de Noches (Legacy Cycle) by  Sean Torres        

My overall star rating -- from 1-5 -- 3.5

Get it on Amazon

About the book:

Becoming king of a world where no sun exists is never simple, even after 3 years of proving yourself as a worthy candidate. Since the night Ruiz left to begin his journey like his brother before him, he vows to prove himself a worthy candidate, in order to obtain said 'holy grail' of Noches itself by earning the title: Rey de Noches.

Even when receiving the strangest task: Prevent Chaos that will come to Noches. Seems like a mockery to Ruiz, although he begins to learn the truth as the events unfold. Discovery of these new 'beings', coming face to face with the world's most wanted man, the Moon goddess Luna ending relations with Hispania and the nations that succeeded from it, a current 20 year inactive King of Noches, leads Ruiz into a series of events threatening the existence of magic itself.

Ruiz soon learns the truth of what happened to his brother not only changing his life, but to his belief over his life's purpose if he's to become the most important being in Noches, or nothing but a sacrifice…

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 21 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 8

-- Cover & title -- 7

-- Editing & formatting -- 6

* based on a 1-10 scale with:  1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10, very good.*

My 5 point review:

-1- This book was based in an original land with imaginative characters, I really enjoyed putting my imagination to work bringing this world to life as I read this book. 

-2- Occasionally I found myself a little confused trying to keep up (things jumped around a bit) and due to the original nature of the world and characters a lot of explanations and descriptions required. but otherwise the story was very exciting and full of twists.

-3- For a short book the author did an excellent job at with the characters and their relationships, they are strong and well balanced. 

-4- Ruiz with his unique appearance and the scales are well described.  I wished their would be more adventures in the Legacy Cycle,  I really liked Ruiz from the beginning, but I fell in love with him by the end of the book.        

-5- The Hispanic-based flavor of the book was new for me and very refreshing, I enjoyed the idea of the perpetual night.        

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- young adult, fantasy

Age recommendations -- 15 plus, In parts the book is very full on, I am not sure the younger audience could keep up with it.

Sex content rating -- Not Applicable        

Violence rating -- Minor Violence, not graphic.

Shani's review of The Body in the Parking Structure by Jerold Last

Reviewed by -- Shani Bush        

Book Review of -- The Body in the Parking Structure by Jerold Last        

My overall star rating -- from 1-5

Get it on Amazon 

About the book:

Suzanne Foster discovers the body of a Bolivian scientist in the parking garage next to the Medical School at UCLA. The police treat the killing as just another drug deal gone bad. P.I. Roger Bowman, Suzanne, and his team investigate the murder, which seems to be linked to a small biotechnology company and a new anti-cancer drug they are developing. The reader is off on a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles and Westwood in search of clues. The clues are all there: Can you figure out whodunit before Roger does? This fast-paced short story features characters from the author's popular South American mystery novel series working on a murder case at home in Los Angeles.  

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 30 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 10

-- Cover & title -- 10

-- Editing & formatting -- 10

* based on a 1-10 scale with:  1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10, very good.*

My 5 point review:

-1- I am a lover of mysteries and this really nailed it.          

-2- Gives a aura of the old fashioned mysteries of the earlier days of Tommy and Tuppence of the Agatha Christie book eras.         

-3- Kept my interest.         

-4- Kept the mystery throughout.         

-5- Well wrote.        

Would you want to read this author again?  Yes

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- mystery

Age recommendations -- unsure

Sex content rating -- Didn't notice any

Violence rating -- Minor

Rich's review of Reasonable Malice by JT Sather

Reviewed by -- Rich Meyer

Book Review of -- Reasonable Malice
By JT Sather

My overall star rating -- from 1-5

Get it on Amazon

About the book:
Another adventure and life lesson from Jt Sather, author of How To Survive When the Bottom Drops Out, who encountered drug dealers, thieves and Las Vegas PD while in pursuit of his stolen video camera and committing what some might call felony kidnapping.


Book creation ratings:
Overall total -- 16 out of a possible 30
-- Story & characters -- 7
-- Cover & title -- 5
-- Editing -- 4
* based on a 1-10 scale with:  1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10, very good.*

My 5 point review:
-1- Fairly interesting story, but not nearly as good as his previous effort. The writing was also not nearly up to the level of his first book. It’s very half-assedly brutal, mostly realistic, but didn’t hold my interest very well. For some reason, most of the first chapter is repeated at the end of the book. Perhaps for some grasp at a dramatic hook? I don’t know … it just seemed weird and out of place in this kind of story. The story is not high art, it’s not bizarro, it’s just there.

-2- As with Sather’s previous book, the believability factor is there, but you never quite know if this was something that did happen. I tend to think it probably was, what with the somewhat trite way the entire story was resolved.  It’s not a really satisfying ending for the characters or the reader, as you sort of go “gee, why did they bother?”

-3- A third of the book is either a convoluted “about the author” diatribe or samples from his previous book. I understand that the author is probably using this as a promotional loss leader, but I absolutely hate book excerpts being used to pad out a page count. It cheats the reader as a buyer.

-4- Basic formatting issues abound, especially between sections of the book, where the text goes through at least three different sizes without the reader changing anything.  The chapter headings and titles are improperly indented. The table of contents does not delineate the story proper from the samples, going from “Chapter Nine” to “Chapter 1”.

-5-Basic misspellings are quite annoying. Corpus Christy? Dilema? How do you get those wrong? Especially with a word processor.

Reader Recommendations
Genre --  Memoirs
Age recommendations -- 18+
Sex content rating -- Adult
Violence rating -- Adult

Maegan's review of Bryn Morrow by Mike Cooley

Reviewed by -- 
Maegan Schaefer

Book Review of – Bryn Morrow
By Mike Cooley

My overall star rating – from 1-5

Get it on amazon

About the book:
Celeste had been dreaming of Bryn since she was eight: the flash of light across the sky, Bryn running, the explosion that nothing human should have survived, and then Bryn climbing out of the smoking crater and looking right at her. He was beautiful: six feet tall with muscles like coiled steel and dark blue eyes. His hair was black and his body was chiseled out of marble, like a Greek God.

For years she had thought he was nothing but a dream. But slowly the dream changed, and it seemed that he was trying to reach her. His arm stretched out as if to touch her.

And then she saw him, burning under the light of dawn. His skin was flame as their eyes met. Celeste’s heart sped up and she gasped. Bryn had found her. (from Amazon)

Book creation ratings:
Overall total --  26 out of a possible 30
-- Story & characters -- 9
-- Cover & title -- 8
-- Editing -- 9
* based on a 1-10 scale with:  1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10, very good.*

My 5 point review:
-1- The Characters actually acted their ages in this “vampire” story which is wonderful since some these days have high schooler doing college kids stuff.

-2- This book had an awesome new twist to vampires that I really found mind blowing. Love how they explain it too.

-3- Cooley had me hooked within the first few pages some much so that I couldn’t put it down. Glad I was stuck at the doctors and had time to read.

-4- Another great aspect to this story is that when it came to the love scenes Cooley left things private/ up to the reader imagination. For me, as a reader, this is a major plus.

-5-I love how Cooley has shown the relationship between Celeste and Debra it reminds me of my relationship with my best friend.

Reader Recommendations
Genre -- Fiction
Age recommendations – 16+
Sex content rating – 2 out of 5 (mostly just foreplay)
Violence rating – 3 out of 5 (fighting, burning, and guns)

Lake's review of The Good Son by D.J. Butler

Reviewed by -- Lake Leafty

        

Book Review of -- The Good Son (Book 6 in Rock Band Fights Evil) by D.J. Butler        

My overall star rating -- from 1-5        

      

Get it on Amazon        

About the book:        

Heaven doesn't want them. Do they stand a chance in Hell?

The band knows him as their tight-lipped lead singer Jim, but Jacob Bar Azazel is Satan's only son, a man with thousands of years of history and a heavy burden of cursed love. Now against all the odds and despite facing terrifying foes, the ragged rock and roll band have made it to Hell in time for the opening of the Liminal Year. Can they get through the hordes of Hell to the Council Chamber? Can they keep it together long enough to get what they came for? And what exactly does Jim have up his sleeve?

The Good Son is the sixth installment of Rock Band Fights Evil, a pulp fiction serial.

        

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 30 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 10

-- Cover & title -- 10

-- Editing & formatting -- 10

* based on a 1-10 scale with:  1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10, very good

The Review

-- 1 -- Fast Paced, Action Packed.        

-- 2 -- Flashbacks done well.

-- 3 -- Interesting twists on what Hell is and isn't like.        

-- 4 -- Lots of Cliff hangers.        

-- 5 -- Son of the Devil, need I say more?        

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- Pulp Fiction.        

Age recommendations -- 17+        

Sex content rating -- No Sex. Someone's Father is be-headed in the name of Love.

Violence rating -- 9/10