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Archive for November 2nd, 2015

The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest

Posted in 5 Star Books on November 2, 2015| 3 Comments »

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The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest (Samuel Roberts – 4) by Scott A. Lerner

(Excerpt from Goodreads) Samuel Roberts, a lawyer in Champaign, Illinois, has just moved to a new home to escape the memories of his old place—the stray body parts left by evil entities as well as traces of his relationship with Susan, who left him because he couldn’t stop risking both their lives trying to save the world. That leaves Sam free to fall in love again.

Sam falls hard, suspiciously hard, for Bridget Gillis, a beautiful fortune teller who also happens to be a witch and a member of a coven. The village that encompasses the coven was founded by Bridget’s great-great aunt, also named Bridget and a dead ringer for her descendant. The new relationship quickly gets complicated. It is two days before Halloween, and Bridget is about to be tried by her fellow witches for the crime of practicing dark magic involving the blood of children. The punishment is to be burned at the stake. Bridget needs an advocate, and Sam is the perfect man for the job.

Sam brings in Bob, who is suspicious of his best buddy’s sudden passion. The two of them have until the Witching Hour on Halloween to clear Bridget’s name and find out who is killing the local children. As they comb the area for clues, quiz the locals, and take a crash course in witchcraft and Wiccan customs, Sam and Bob can’t shake the question: is Bridget a good witch or a bad witch?

Book

My Review

5 stars

Sam’s friend Bob get him a tarot reading but in the middle of the reading, the fortune teller says that it is over. Bridget is the fortune teller and lives in a town that was created by witches to keep them from prosecution. But Bridget is accused of using black magic. Sam is surprised when he is asked to defend Bridget and keep her from being burned at the stake in a couple night on Halloween.

Sam is smitten with Bridget and is determined to find out the truth behind the accusation of black magic. I really liked everything about witches and wiccan and what better time of year for the book to come out but during Halloween. The mystery was good and there were a couple twists that kept me on my toes.

I have not read any other books in the Samuel Roberts series but after reading The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest I have already add the other three books to my wish list on Amazon. This is a smaller book, think cozy mysteries, but there is a great, entertaining story. I would definitely recommend this for those that like there mysteries with a little paranormal twist.

To purchase the Wiccan Witch of the Midwest, or for more information on this book or other’s in the series, make sure to check out Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Scott Lerner’s website.

I received The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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The Apostates

Posted in 5 Star Books on November 2, 2015| 1 Comment »

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The Apostates by Lars Teeney

(Excerpt from Goodreads) New Megiddo has been born out of the ashes of America, an America that has sacrificed liberty for security. Ravaged by environmental disaster and shuttered off from the rest of the world by border fortress walls, and the strict dogma of spiritual leader, The Reverend Wilhelm Wainwright, the people take small comfort from the sermons the Reverend delivers straight to the people’s minds via the [Virtue-Net]. However, the President John W. Schrubb Administration has been losing its grip on power. Murmurs and rumors of a resistance group of Apostates emanate from “Database” dens in the slums, financed by a mysterious source, are said to be scheming to free the people. Will the Apostates strike in time before the Born Again Gathering ushers in a state-induced Armageddon?

Book

My Review

5 stars

From the ashes of a destroyed America, New Megiddo has been born. People have decided to forfeit their freedom to have chips implanted into their heads. These chips help people obtain the messages of the leaders directly into their heads. Reverend Wilhelm Wainwright and the President are the leaders but it seems that Revered Wainwright is starting to take over the control.

Then there are those that don’t want to be implanted. They are called the Apostates or they just disappear. The Apostates are fighting for freedom. Clearly this is a problem for Reverend Wainwright and the President. It’s now a race to see if the Apostates can free the people or if they are going to disappear forever.

This is a long book with a lot of depth to it. This is not a book that you just casually read in one night. It has a lot of history and touches on every subject that a book can. You have to ask yourself what would you do in this situation. Would you give up your freedom just to be safe or would you fight to be free.

This book reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 and gets your mind thinking about the scary possibilities. Think how easy you could be giving up your freedoms just to be safe, how it would be so much easier to have someone else tell you what to do and when to do it.

This is a great book. There is a lot of thought that went into it. If you like dystopian or post-apocalyptic stories, this is one you need to check out.

To purchase The Apostates, or for more information, make sure to check out Amazon, Goodreads, and Lars Teeney’s website.

I received The Apostates for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Echoes

Posted in 5 Star Books on November 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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Echoes by Laura Tisdall

(Excerpt from Goodreads) “There is truth to be shared. Let us begin…”

Volatile mathematical genius Mallory Park is living two lives. In one, she is balancing senior year with looking after her little brother and troubled ex-Marine father; in the other, she spends her nights glued to her laptop, breaking into some of the world’s most secure systems as the hacker Echo Six.

As part of a corruption-exposing cyber network called the Forum, Mallory is far more at ease among the codes and hidden identities of her online world than she has ever been in the real one, but when other hackers start to go missing, she finds herself caught up in a web of secrets that could have repercussions far beyond both.

When anyone can be a name on a screen, how do you know who to trust?

Book
My Review

5 stars

Mallory lives a double life. In the real world she is a 16 year old girl that has a sever phobia of being touched, tries to be unnoticed, and takes care of her Marine father suffering from PTSD and her little brother. At night she becomes Echo Six, a hacker that becomes part of the Forum. When another hacker disappears this is brought to her attention. She starts working together with Warden to try and figure out what is going on. But the more she looks into the disappearance the more she stands out on the radar and will be fighting for more than just her hacker life.

This is a great story. Mallory just loves being a hacker but she emerges to run her real life just enough to take care of her father and brother then goes back into the internet. I really liked how she is made real with her phobia of being touched. And enticing her with the mystery of hackers disappearing, I loved it! I also liked how Echo Six and The Warden worked so well together. DO I see romance in the future?

This is a great thriller, mystery. There is a rough real world and even rougher virtual world. There is a great story and you are left wanting more. I can’t wait to read more of Laura Tisdall’s stories.

To purchase Echoes, or for more information, make sure to check out Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Laura Tisdall’s website.

I received Echoes for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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The Dawn of Dae

Posted in General Information on November 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Urban Fantasy / Post Apocalyptic
Date Published: December 1, 2015
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The chance to attend college is just what Alexa Daegberht needs to break out the mold of her caste. If she can become a Bach, she can escape the poverty she’s endured ever since her parents died when she was five. Only through education can she rise above her birth caste–and she knows it.
All of her plans fall to dust when she opens a portal within her refrigerator, turning her macaroni and cheese casserole into a sentient being. By dawn the next day, the mysterious dae have come to Earth to stay. Hundreds of thousands of people vanish into thin air, and as the days pass, the total of the missing number in the millions. Some say it’s the rapture of the Christian faith.
Alexa knows better: their dae ate them, leaving behind nothing more than dust as evidence of their hunger.
As one of the unawakened, she doesn’t have a dae, nor can she manifest any forms of magical powers. She’s lacking the innate knowledge of what the dae are and what they mean for the world. Now more than ever, she is an outsider. Her survival hinges on her ability to adapt to a world she no longer understands.
Unfortunately, one of the dae has taken notice of her, and he’ll stop at nothing to have her. Alexa’s problems pile up as she’s forced to pick her allegiances. Will she submit to the new ways of the world? Will she become some monster’s pawn? Or, against all odds, can she forge her own path and prove normal humans can thrive among those gifted with powers once the domain of fantasies and nightmares?
EXCERPT
My first real memory of my parents was also my last.
It was the refrigerator’s fault I remembered. I should’ve known better than to expect new appliances in my new apartment; I was lucky to have appliances at all. I sure as hell couldn’t afford to buy new ones.
The refrigerator, however, was a problem. Every time I looked at it, I remembered—and my first memory of my parents was how I, Alexa Zoe Daegberht, had killed them with a wish.
It was the same refrigerator, right down to its smoke-stained, pebbled surface and its loose handle. The years hadn’t done the damned thing any favors, and I wondered if the door would fall off its hinges when I opened it. Then again, they had built things better when I had been a child.
It was too bad I hadn’t been built a bit better. A lot of things would have been different. It wasn’t my father’s fault no one could touch me without irritating my sensitive skin. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t kiss my cheek like other fathers could with their daughters.
It was his fault he had forgotten; if he hadn’t, my face wouldn’t have been itching and burning. If he hadn’t forgotten, I wouldn’t have run to the fridge, using it as a shield against his touch. If he hadn’t forgotten, I wouldn’t have parroted what he too often said while fighting with my mother:
If you walk out that door, don’t you ever come back.
Because I had believed it, had wanted it, and had prayed for it, wishing on a shooting star that night, I had gotten exactly what I had asked for. My parents had walked out the door and left me behind, never to return.
The ocean didn’t like giving up its dead, and planes smacking into the water didn’t leave a whole lot to salvage.
I dropped my bags on the kitchen floor, spat curses, and kicked the refrigerator.
It won; beneath the plastic was metal, and it refused to bend. All I did was crunch my toes, and howling, I hopped around on one foot. Through tear-blurred eyes, I glared at the offensive appliance.
“I’ll end you,” I swore.
Maybe I could spray paint the damned thing pink; it’d be at least four years before I earned my degree and rank as a Bach, and until then, I was stuck with it. Once I became a Bach, I’d be elevated to a better caste—a caste with a future, and a bright one at that. Once I was a Bach, I could afford to buy my own appliances, and I’d never have to see that make or model of refrigerator ever again. If I scored well enough on the exit exams, I had the slim chance of being accepted for Master training.
I had an entire life ahead of me, and it would be a good one. There was no way I’d let a stupid refrigerator take that from me.
I kept telling myself that, but I didn’t believe it.
I gave up and went for my last ditch resort; if macaroni and cheese couldn’t make things better, nothing could.
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