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Archive for January 7th, 2019

The Griffin’s Feather

Posted in 4 Star Books on January 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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The Griffin’s Feather (Dragon Rider – 2) by Cornelia Funke

It’s now been two years since Ben and Firedrake defeated Nettlebrand and rescued the silver dragons. Both boy and dragon have finally found homes, but they must live hundreds of miles apart and can only see each other every once in a while.

During one such visit, news reaches Ben, the Greenblooms, and their friends that the last Pegasus in the world has been discovered. The legendary horse has three unhatched eggs with him, but the only way they’ll ever hatch — and continue the survival of this incredible magical species — is to place them under a griffin’s feather. But griffins are the most dangerous creatures in the world, and their mortal enemies are dragons…

Ben has vowed not to tell Firedrake about his quest, to protect him. But as he and the Greenbloom team set off for a remote island where the terrible griffins are rumored to live, he may just need the help of his best friend and dragon…

Amazon     Audible     BN     Goodreads

Cornelia Funke

About the Author

Cornelia Funke is a multiple award-winning German illustrator and storyteller, who writes fantasy for all ages of readers. Amongst her best known books is the Inkheart trilogy. Many of Cornelia’s titles are published all over the world and translated into more than 30 languages. She has two children, two birds and a very old dog and lives in Los Angeles, California.

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My Review

4 stars

It has been two years since Ben and Firedrake’s last adventure. Both have found a home but separated by distance. Ben has found a home with the Greenblooms on their preserve while Firedrake lives in Nepal. Firedrake comes to visit with Ben but this comes at the wrong time. The last Pegasus in the world has just lost his mate but he has three foals still in eggs.

Time is short while Ben goes on an adventure to find a griffin and convince it to give him it’s feather so they can use it to hatch the foals. But Griffins are dangerous and hate other magical creatures, especially dragons. Ben will learn that although he was trying to keep Firedrake out of this quest he will need Firedrakes help after all.

I didn’t read the first book in the series and was completely lost when I first started listening to this book. I’m sure that extra information would have made this a better read.

Having said that, this was a good story with lots of magical creatures (my favorite part), a great adventure with many twists and turns, and several great messages about taking care of the world and the creatures in it.

I was lucky enough to get an audio book version of this book for review. Mark Thompson and Cornelia Funke do an amazing job narrating the story. Once I figured out what was going on it was so easy to fall into the story and hard to leave.

This is a great story for mid grade readers and older that anyone will like/love. I do recommend reading the first book in the series which is what I will be doing to catch up on what I missed.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.

I would like to thank Michelle at Forte Business Consulting for the opportunity to listen to and share this book.

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The Prospero Chronicles

Posted in General Information on January 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Splinters
The Prospero Chronicles Book 1
by Fiona J.R. Titchenell & Matt Carter
Genre: YA Horror, SciFi
Under normal circumstances, Ben and Mina would never have had reason to
speak to each other. He’s an easy-going people person with a
healthy skepticism about the paranormal; she’s a dangerously
obsessive monster-hunter with a crippling fear of betrayal. But the
small Northern California town of Prospero, with its rich history of
cryptid sightings, miracles, and mysterious disappearances, has no
normal circumstances to offer.
When Ben’s missing childhood friend, Haley Perkins, stumbles out of
Prospero’s surrounding woods and right into her own funeral, Ben
and Mina are forced to work together to uncover what happened to her.
Different as they are, their unlikely friendship may be the only
thing that can save the town, and possibly the world, from its
insidious invaders.
“A snapping, crackling, popping homage to classic horror.”
—Kirkus Reviews.
“Whip-smart
dialogue… genuinely terrifying Splinters, the descriptions of which
will have fans of monster films utterly enthralled… A promising
series opener, this will satisfy those readers who like their scary
stories to be as clever as they are chilling.” —KQG, the
Bulletin of The Center for Children’s Books.
“The stakes are high. The action is intense.” —Washington
Independent Review of Books.
**only 99 cents!!**
Shards
The Prospero Chronicles Book 2
When autumn descends on Prospero, California, Ben hopes the normality of
the new school year may offer a reprieve from the town’s paranormal
horrors. Mina knows all too well that there are no reprieves and no
normality to be had in Prospero, but even she can’t prepare for
what the coming year holds.
On top of the vivid hallucinations that have plagued Mina since the
attack on the Warehouse, and the brewing Splinter civil war that
threatens all of humanity, inside the walls of Prospero High, Ben,
Mina, and their expanding Network face a vicious campaign to destroy
their friendship, and a mysterious assassin picking off human rebels
– an assassin with powers like no Splinter they’ve fought before.
Ben and Mina’s one hope rests with a mysterious old man hiding in the
woods outside of town; a living legend who may be able to teach them
how to fight this dangerous new breed of Splinter. That is, assuming
he doesn’t kill the pair of them himself.
“Titchenell and Carter hold nothing back in this solid sequel that thrills and
expands on its predecessor. Aided by swift writing, relatable
characters and unexpected scares, Shards is a chill-inducing
delight.” —David Powers King, co-author of Woven.
“Maintaining the same level of popcorn-munching fun, Titchenell and Carter are
taking The Prospero Chronicles in a promising direction.” —Joe
Dell’Erb, Washington Independent Review of Books.
Slivers
The Prospero Chronicles Book 3
Ben
Growing up is hard, and growing up in Prospero is even harder, but I think we
manage. I mean, yeah, my friends and I spend more of our time
fighting a race of shapeshifting aliens than we do hanging out, but
we have our fun. We go to parties, help each other with our classes,
maybe even fall in love…
I’ve no illusions that we live ordinary lives, but they’re our lives,
and I’m going to make sure we make the most of them whether the
Splinters want us to or not.
Mina
The truce is temporary. We will not humor the Splinters forever. It’s
only until the Slivers can be stopped, until the army of Shards being
planted among our classmates can be disassembled, until we get our
hands on the thing I’d almost given up believing in.
The humanity test.
For the chance to know, once and for all, who can be trusted, some
dealings with monsters must be excusable. Inevitable. Just like this
feeling between Ben and me.
And that has to be temporary too.
Stitches
The Prospero Chronicles Book 4
by Fiona J.R. Titchenell
This is Prospero’s darkest hour. The few remaining humans trapped within
the quarantine zone are all but defenseless against the multiplying
forces of the Sliver Queen, Locusta. With Ben missing, Aldo among the
enemy ranks, and more steel plates than bones left in her body,
Mina’s passing the hours drowning in morphine and throwing heavy
objects at her guards.
Stripped of her weapons, her gadgets, and the Network itself, she has just one
card left, hidden somewhere under her oft-sutured skin. It might be
powerful enough to complete her life’s work once and for all… or
to reach the one person who could make her life into more than a
means to an end. But playing it will cost everything she has, or
everything she believes in.
The final chronicle of Prospero waits in these pages.
F.J.R. TITCHENELL is an author of young adult, sci-fi, and horror fiction, including
Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of). She
graduated from Cal State University Los Angeles with a B. A. in
English in 2009 at the age of twenty. She currently lives in San
Gabriel, California, with her husband, coauthor, and amazing partner
in all things, Matt Carter, and their pet king snake, Mica.
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
Enter for your chance to win a $20 Amazon,
ebook copy of Some Side Effects May Occur by Fiona J.R. Titchenell, 1 winner each
I would like to thank Silver Dagger Book Tours for the opportunity to share this series.

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Eric Beckman Mysteries

Posted in General Information on January 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

A Mind Reader’s Christmas
Eric Beckman Mysteries Book 4
by Al Macy
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Eric Beckman, a mind-reading private investigator, is spending Christmas
in snowy Vermont with his wife and daughter. He needs a break from
solving cases, but the townspeople convince him to look into the
village mystery: Every holiday season, someone switches the baby
Jesus with one of the other figures in the town’s nativity scene.
With the help of his ten-year-old daughter, also a mind reader, he soon
learns that some of the residents of the small town are not who—or
even what—they seem to be. There’s something supernatural going
on in Newburn, Vermont.
His investigation causes an escalation of strange happenings, and soon,
swapped manger figures are the least of the town’s worries. If
Beckman can’t adjust his view of the world—force himself to
believe in things he never thought possible—the Christmas vacation
could turn out to be his family’s last.
A Mind Reader’s Christmas may be read as a
standalone book or as Book Four in the Eric Beckman series.
Democracy’s Thief
Eric Beckman Mysteries Book 3
Private Investigator Eric Beckman hates politics. He doesn’t even watch the
news—it’s just sensationalized stories crafted to sell
commercials. Why should he care?
But that changes when a friend is shot in the head during a politically
motivated break-in. Eric starts digging, and using his paranormal
mind-reading skills, he soon discovers that Wilson Kingman, the
presidential candidate behind the burglary, has some supernatural
skills of his own. With one sweep of his mesmerizing gaze, he’s able
to secure the fanatical devotion of the thousands who attend his
rallies–including the very people investigating him.
Worse, Kingman’s true motivations have nothing to do with leading the free
world. With the clock ticking down toward election day, Beckman must
overcome his aversion to politics and stop the wrong man from being
elected. If he fails, millions will die.
Democracy’s Thief is a standalone book which may be enjoyed without
reading any of the other books in the series.
Sanity’s Thief
Eric Beckman Mysteries Book 2
Private detective Eric Beckman can read minds. He’s used to weird cases, but
this one may be his most difficult yet. A beloved relative has
disappeared into a suspicious psychiatric hospital and Eric has no
choice but to go in after her.
Getting in is easy—he knows how to fake insanity.
Getting out … not so much.
The asylum’s director has some personality issues of his own and is doing
more than just treating patients. Now that Eric is one of them, his
mind may be headed for a fate worse than death.
His only hope for escape is to work together with the other inmates. But
collaborating with schizophrenics has its own challenges, even when
he knows what they’re thinking. Unless he can get word to the
outside, the case could cost him his sanity.
Sanity’s Thief is a standalone book and may be understood and enjoyed without
reading any of the other books in the series.
Yesterday’s Thief
Eric Beckman Mysteries Book 1
Private detective Eric Beckman can read minds.
Although he reads only the conscious thoughts of the people he interviews, it
usually gives him enough of an edge to overcome his inexperience as a
PI. But mind reading is hell on relationships. Trusting comes hard
when you know what people are really thinking.
The case of his life lands in his lap when a
beautiful woman materializes during a televised baseball game. She
floats in midair, then drops to the ground, comatose.
Beckman is at her bedside when she wakes up. From the moment she opens her
eyes, she has him under her spell. He vows to figure out where—or
when—she came from, even if it kills him.
The stakes increase when she disappears without a trace. Worse, she holds
the key to a worldwide energy catastrophe. If Beckman can’t find
her and unlock her secrets, economies will collapse, and the world
will spiral down into chaos.
**FREE!!**
Al Macy writes because he has stories to tell. In school he was the
class clown and always the first volunteer for show and tell. His
teachers would say “Al has a lot of imagination.” Then they’d
roll their eyes.
But he put his storytelling on the back burner until he retired and wrote
a blog about his efforts to improve his piano sight-reading. That’s
when his love of storytelling burbled up to the surface, along with
quirky words like “burble.”
He had even more fun writing his second book, Drive,
Ride, Repeat, but was bummed by non-fiction’s need
to stick to “the truth” (yucko). From then on it was fiction all
the way, with a good dose of his science background burbling to the
surface.
Macy’s top priority is compelling storylines with satisfying plot twists,
but he never neglects character development. No, wait … his top
priority is quirkiness, then compelling storylines, then character
development. No, wait …
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!
I would like to thank Silver Dagger Book Tours for the opportunity to share this book series.

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