Shannan's review of Scotland's Guardians by Katharina Gerlach

Reviewed by -- Shannan Williams        

Book Review of -- Scotland's Guardians by Katharina Gerlach        

My overall star rating --- 5

About the book:

A face without a nose watches Bryanna from a window in an Edinburgh townhouse, and a hairy hand waves. A Brownie! She blinks and shakes her head. Impossible. They only exist in books. But the Brownie doesn't remain the only legendary creature she meets on her way home. Maybe I'm hallucinating, she thinks, and decides to talk to her dad. However, he gets kidnapped by a woman whose scent seems surprisingly familiar to Bryanna. Without hesitation, she follows them and lands smack dab in the middle of the adventure of her life. The world she faces now is murderously dangerous. And if she survives the journey, she seems doomed to kill her father for his secret.  

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 --

This book pulled me in at the very beginning and held me captive until the very end. I loved it and couldn't stop reading once I started. A perfect fantasy book, full of Scottish mythology. There were so many creatures and monsters that I was introduced to. The best fantasy book I have read in a really long time...definitely a favorite without a doubt. I loved the development of the characters along the way. It was as if I was right there with the two girls, following them along their journey. The ending was perfect and I was so happy to see it end the way it did. You need to read this book if you are a lover of the fantasy genre. You will not be disappointed.        

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- Fantasy, Adventure        

Age recommendations -- 17 and up, due to some graphic descriptions of some of the creatures.        

Sex content rating -- none                

Violence rating -- mild

Links for the book:

Buy it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Scotlands-Guardians-Katharina-Gerlach-ebook/dp/B00B70WBK4 

Author's Amazon page

http://www.amazon.com/Katharina-Gerlach/e/B0057I7EQS/ 

Author's facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/KatharinaGerlach.Autorin 

Author's website

http://www.katharinagerlach.com/

http://katharina-gerlach.blogspot.com/ 

Rich's review of This Changes Everything by Sally Ember

Reviewed by -- Rich M.        

Book Review of -- This Changes Everything by Sally Ember        

My overall star rating --- 1        

About the book:

Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, 58, begins having secret visits from holographic representations of beings from the Many Worlds Collective, a consortium of planet and star systems in the multiverse. When Earth is invited to join the Collective, the holos choose Clara as liaison between Earth and the Many Worlds Collective to make the secret visits public and guide Earth's new leaders. While Earthers adjust their beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and everything they think and are, rebellions and conflicts arise. The Collective works with Clara to create the Psi-Warriors who fight the leaders of the resistance, the Psi-Defiers. With multiple re-sets needed to revise the past and future to save lives, in which of the timelines in the multiverse does her love, Epifanio Dang, get to be with Clara? Over Clara's thirty-year term as Chief Communicator, Earthers must undergo major transformations.  

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 7 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 1

-- Cover & title -- 1

-- Editing & formatting -- 5

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

The review --

Confusing and dense. That’s the big thing about this book. A reader doesn’t know if this should be metafictional, metaphysical, or what? 

The author seems to be aiming for something along the lines of Fringe or some similar concept using alternate worlds, but goes into from the wrong way (at least to me, and I’m someone who can tell you who lived on Earth-2, Earth-X, Earth-616, and easily followed the dimension jumping in Heinlein’s books). This is one of many books that I’ve read recently that attempts to be “multimedia” and fails horribly. 

Many chapters are prefaced or consist of media-style transcripts of conferences and the like, that, had they been formatted a little differently from the main narrative (assuming that can be found here), they would’ve added a bit more to the story. As it is, it’s more of a mess than anything else. 

This is perhaps the first book that I have ever found to be offensive. I have no problem with most things; hell, you can write about fisting nuns and putting kittens into woodchippers while wearing Nazi regalia, and if it’s interesting, I’ll have no problem with it. And I can understand wanting to key the story into major real-life events, but to conclude that Chernobyl, the Challenger disaster, and the Columbia’s destruction were due to “memory lapses” is OFFENSIVE to the brave and talented people who died in those tragedies. That simple passage put me completely off this piece of crap book, and anything this writer WILL EVER write in the future. She is a non-entity from now on.        

I attempted to read another 20% or so into the book, but nothing really improved.  The book isn’t really worth wasting my time on. Let me give you a little background: I've read nearly 800 books over the past two-and-a-half years.  I've finished every single one of them, good or bad. Except this one.                

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- (supposedly) Science fiction        

Age recommendations -- Adult        

Sex content rating -- n/a                

Violence rating -- n/a

Links for the book:

Buy it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/This-Changes-Everything-Spanners-Series-ebook/dp/B00HFELTG8

Author's Amazon page

http://www.amazon.com/Sally-Ember/e/B00HEV2UEW/ 

Author's facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/TheSpannersSeriesBySallyEmber

Author's website

http://sallyember.com/ 

Shannan's review of 10 Busy Brownies by Talia Haven

Reviewed by -- Shannan Willaims

Book Review of -- 10 Busy Brownies by Talia Haven

My overall star rating --- 4

 

About the book:

Count the brownies up to 10 as they help out with chores around a old cottage house. 

  

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 --

This is the story of Brownies cleaning up the house after the children go to bed. This book not only teaches counting from 1-10, but introduces rhyming and doing chores. A great book of rhyming while learning to count from 1-10. Between the pictures and the rhyming I think that young children, and whoever is reading it with them, will fall in love with this book. Very detailed illustrations will be very eye catching to young children. I highly recommend this book for young children.        

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- Young Children

Age recommendations -- 1-5

Sex content rating -- none

Violence rating -- none

Links for the book:

Buy it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/10-Busy-Brownies-Talia-Haven-ebook/dp/B00HOQRG0U    

Author's blog

 http://taliahaven.blogspot.com/

Author's website

http://mythologicalbrowniesforkids.blogspot.com/                                                                                        

Maegan's review of Enemy Among Us by Kevin Hamilton

Reviewed by -- Maegan Schaefer        

Book Review of -- Enemy Among Us by Kevin Hamilton        

My overall star rating --- 5 

       

About the book:

Marcus Remalliond awakens on a hilltop overlooking a battle with a fuzzy head and an arrow embedded in his shoulder; he dispatches the archer who attacks him and begins to rush down to join the fray when it hits him, he doesn’t know which side he belongs to or even who he is! 

‘Enemy Among Us’ introduces the world of Larcurion, and the nations of Escrania and Traevinia. The war between the rival nations has been going on for nearly three centuries. Amid this backdrop of conflict, Marcus thrust into a world he can no longer remember. 

He encounters Nathan, a name from his past and self-professed best friend, who begins filling in some of the gaps. Nathan and Marcus begin the long return trek ‘home’ to Traevinia with the rest of the soldiers through wilderness, traverse the cursed mountain Nargonlythe, and encounter dangers and monsters of Traevinian myth along the way. Marcus begins to learn about Larcurion, and the two warring nations of Escrania and Traevinia: their histories, their religion, their conflicts. 

All the while, Marcus is struggling to reconnect with who he is; desperate to fit in. Something’s wrong though; some of Marcus’s memories coming to the surface don’t jibe with what he’s learning of who “he is”. He remembers a lost love, friends from his past, and bits and pieces that don’t seem to fit with what Nathan and the Traevinians are telling him. He was trained to be a weapon for the Traevinian king Keiten, to strike out at the heart of the nation of Escrania. He’ll spread chaos and fear along with the rest of his division- the Masks. What’s true, where does he belong, and can he figure all of this out before it’s too late? What makes a hero, is it his past, or is it the choices he makes of his life? These are the questions that Marcus must answer for himself all while trying to stay alive. 

50% of all proceeds from the sale of Enemy Among Us will go toward the Red Cross and Arkansas Tornado Relief Fund

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 27 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 10

-- Cover & title -- 10

-- Editing & formatting -- 7

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

The review --

Enemy Among Us started out with a hook for me and just kept on reeling me in. I wish I could of read it straight through, but life kept getting in my way. The storyline is one that I have yet to read, which thoroughly kept me guessing at what was to happen next. The way the author has written the story made me care for each of the characters, even the "bad' ones, because it explains their points of view. All of which I could relate to and rationalize with, to an extent. The ending is beautifully written, and has left me hoping that I will get another wonderful story about an incredible adventure with Marcus.   

             

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- Adventure with a bit of Fantasy        

Age recommendations -- 14+, I think that boys would really enjoy reading this.        

Sex content rating -- mild                

Violence rating -- moderate to a lot. There is fights, battles, and death.

        

Links for the book:

Buy it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Enemy-Among-Us-Kevin-Hamilton-ebook/dp/B00EMN0K60  

Author's Amazon page

 http://www.amazon.com/Kevin-Hamilton/e/B00EP70QE4/

Author's facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/

Notice to all authors, regarding reviewer Chez

Dear authors,

I am Jacqueline Driggers, owner of this blog. A little over a year ago, I added a review team to this blog. Previously it had been just me. The review team came together quickly, and I have been busy tweaking the blog ever since, refining things. As a result, I had gotten behind on processing reviews submitted, and just recently had the opportunity to begin getting caught up.

So it came to my attention that the reviewer listed on this blog as Chez, hadn't submitted any reviews at all. I contacted her, and asked her --

Are you still wanting to be on the review team? Because you haven't been active.

This is her response to me --

 Yes please. I've been reading constantly, so many are emailing me direct, that I just give them a star rating on Amazon and moving on to the next. I'm under LizzieM on there. Haven't had time to write up blurbs as usually they've already had them, I just say good, bad, brilliant n give a star rating.

To all authors who contacted her, expecting a review in this blog --
I deeply and sincerely apologize. If you are one of those authors who contacted her, and gave her a free book in exchange for a review, please contact me via the link at the end of this post.

Going forward, from this point on, in order to ensure that this does not happen again, I am changing blog procedures. Currently, contact info for all reviewers has been removed from the Our Reviewers page of the blog site. I will be creating google drive request forms for all reviewers through my google account. A reviewer will only receive their review requests as long as I consider them to be in good standing with the team.

And I want to send this message out to every author:

If you have contacted someone associated with this blog, about a review, and haven't received your review in this blog,
please contact me via the blog's facebook page:

The Leisure Zone facebook page

This blog means a lot to me, and I have spent a lot of time on it, since it's birth in 2012. I am serious about this blog, and the reviews I share. I want to sincerely thank all authors who share their books with me in exchange for a review, and want you to know how dearly I hold the trust that you give me.

I promise you, going forward, things will be handled differently and more efficiently.

Sincerely,
Jacqueline Driggers
blog owner

Jacqueline's review of Primitive Fix by Alicia Sparks

Reviewed by -- Jacqueline Driggers

Book Review of -- Primitive Fix by Alicia Sparks

My overall star rating, from 1-5 --- 2.5

About the book:

PRIMITIVE FIX – Meet two brothers, tiger shifters, and the women who bring out the beast in them. 

Part 1 - Kenyon 

Sage Villalobos has been destined to marry Kenyon Maddux since the day she was born. As the second-born in her wolf clan, she came into this world owing a debt to the family of shape-shifting tigers who rule the Louisiana swamps in the Atchafalaya Basin. Kenyon is the only man she’s ever wanted, the man who sets her blood on fire, but she’s tired of being indebted to his family for something she didn’t do. She wants him to choose her because he loves her, not because he owns her. When Kenyon’s brother, Nik, is taken prisoner, Kenyon turns to Sage for help. Using her unique skills, she knows she can help him free his brother, but there will be a price. If she agrees to do this, she wants Kenyon to release her from her debt. However, the only thing Kenyon wants to do is hold on to her and never let her go. 

Part 2 - Nik 

After months of captivity as part of a roadside attraction, Nik Maddux is finally able to escape. Injured and at death’s door, he makes his way through the swamp only to collapse near Juliette’s home. Juliette pulls the naked man into her cabin and begins nursing him back to health, marveling at the black stripes which cover his body and the feline features of his face. She knows he’s not quite human and realizes she may have found a kindred spirit, someone whose secrets are as deadly as her own. When Nik awakes, his attraction to Juliette is instant. While she heals his body, he wants to heal her soul. But danger is lurking in the swamp, and the longer they stay together, the more likely they are to lose everything. 

**Content Warning: May contain graphic content and sexual situations. Intended for 18+ Audience 

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 18 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 5

-- Cover & title -- 5

-- Editing -- 8

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

My 5 point review:

I got this book on a free download, and it's actually 2 novellas in one book. Both stories leave a lot of things hanging, and I didn't like that. Since I thought that it might be continued in the second book, I messaged the author, and this is what she said:

"There are a lot of questions purposefully left unanswered in the first book. They will be answered in future books but not in Primitive Need, the second book." 

Which I found to be extremely disappointing, and according to the Amazon website, this is book 1 of a 2 book set, so I guess the questions left hanging will just stay that way.

In the first story, the one brother is so set and determined on rescuing his brother; but once the brother is rescued and out, lost in the swamps, the other brother doesn't go after him.  I have a problem with this.

Final thought - It's a decent book, and interesting read since I got it free.  But it's not one I would pay money for.  It's not one I would recommend.  Would I bother with reading more in this series?  No. There are too many other books out there to spend your time on.

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- paranormal

Age recommendations -- 18 plus

Sex content rating -- hot

Violence rating -- intense

Links

Buy it on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Primitive-Fix-Alicia-Sparks-ebook/dp/B00FPRGSWW/ 

Author's Amazon page

http://www.amazon.com/Alicia-Sparks/e/B00GAA4LEU/ 

Author's facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/thealiciasparks 

Author's website

http://www.beaucoupllcpublishing.com/alicia-sparks/ 

Jacqueline's review of Outpassage by Janet and Chris Morris

Reviewed by -- Jacqueline Driggers

Book Review of -- Outpassage by Janet and Chris Morris

My overall star rating - from 1-5 --- 2

About the book:

Sgt. “Det” Cox has just spent three years under psych observation on Earth; now that he’s out-system, he isn’t about to tell anyone he’s seeing aliens again. Paige Barnett has lost everything, even her name, because she knows too much about the rebellion spreading through the Earth-Space mining colonies.

Together Cox and Barnett stumble upon the mystery at the revolution’s heart and learn why the rebels are willing to die for it.

Is their discovery humanity’s worst threat or greatest gift? The authorities are willing to destroy whole planets to keep the revolution’s secret from reaching Earth… What’s to stop them from destroying two people

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 16 out of a possible 30

-- Story & characters -- 3

-- Cover & title -- 5

-- Editing -- 8

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

My 5 point review:

It starts out like a good old-fashioned science fiction novel, but it's not. I initially thought it was going to be about characters Cox and Barnett on the trail of some good old fashioned space intrigue. But it's not. It was disappointing that Cox and Barnett spend most of the book separate.

Yeah, there's aliens involved; but not the cool kind.  They seem to start fights so people will die, so they can take the corpses and resurrect them into religious fanatics and spread the . . . . whatever. Just what it is they are spreading . . . not so clear. They sort of become religious zombies.

Summing it all up, it's a disappointing book with a very unsatisfying ending. Had the makings, initially, of a good old science fiction romp. But it's not, not at all. There's a substantial amount of violence, and distinct religious overtones.

Reader Recommendations

Genre -- science fiction

Age recommendations -- 17 plus

Sex content rating -- moderate

Violence rating -- high

Links

Get it on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Chris-Morris/e/B008L41JNO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Morris_(author)

https://www.facebook.com/JanetMorrisandChrisMorris/timeline