CURSED FAE
She’s got green skin, twisted tusks, and a ferocious love of canned pineapple. And her high-stakes day job just landed her a do-or-die mission…
Pepper Sterling relies on her gifts to hide and stay safe. Born with the ability to manipulate stone with ease and disappear at will, the young troll left her unwelcoming clan and found work running messages between Earth and Faerie. But after fleeing a nasty band of elves who slapped a slave rune on her arm, she’s left with a broken wrist and a testily ungrateful tiger-shifter guest in her hidden lair.
Confused by powers that are inexplicably growing after the confrontation, she’s stunned when the snarly cat accuses her of illegal magic use and knocks her out with a spell. With rising tensions attracting the attention of the Lord of Winter and news of a dryad in danger only Pepper can rescue, she’s staggered by a shocking revelation about her true nature…
Will she have to confront Death himself to save the day?
Love to see Forrest again!! It’s like meeting a long lost friend! Character development? Can never go lower than 4! Having said that, I was not impressed with Pepper trying to face up to the bad guys and then let them beat her again just so that her tiger can save her again. I’m sorry, but, that is lame… However, the story telling quality is so wonderful that this book whizzed by.
On the first round of reading before the audiobook was released, I tried to read the ebook as slowly as possible and savour it as long as I could. But it still went too fast for me!
I am an old fan of this author and this series and can’t wait for Cursed Dragon!
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 5
Plot = 4
About Brogan Thomas:
Brogan lives in Ireland with her husband and their eleven furry children: five furry minions of darkness (aka the cats), four hellhounds (the dogs), and two traditional unicorns (fat, hairy Irish cobs).
In 2019 she decided to embrace her craziness by writing about the imaginary people that live in her head. Her first love is her number-one favourite furry child Bob the cob, then reading. When not reading or writing, she can be found knee-deep in horse poo and fur while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.
The ebook and audiobook copies of the book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
DEATH WISH
Death Wish by Harper A. Brooks
Book 1 of the Reaper Reborn series
Narrated by Eugenie Danglar
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Death Wish:
Life’s a b*tch — but what comes after isn’t much better.
Jade Blackwell, a paranormal reaper, helps supernaturals cross over after death. Her job comes with lots of rules — but not following them is kind of her thing… until it ends up involving her in something much deadlier than she ever imagined.
With the protective veil fading away, demons are crossing realms and impregnating humans, and Jade’s best friend is among their victims. She’s determined to save her friend, even if it means working with Cole Masters, a dangerous demon halfling and notorious gun-for-hire.
But time is running out to fix the barrier and find a demon cure. With supernaturals everywhere in danger, and the balance between good and evil tipped for the worst, Jade must choose between her own eternal afterlife… or the living world she so desperately wants to be a part of.
Either way, death is coming.
The explosively popular Urban Fantasy genre meets the Otherworld Series in this spunky new grim reaper tale by RONE Award winning author, Harper A. Brooks.
Source: Info in the About Death Wish was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44034245-death-wish on 25/08/2019.
My Thoughts:
Promising start to a new-to-me series!
The reaper theme with the in-between limbo place where reapers socialise has been around the block a few times already. Namely, the Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series by Angela Roquet has exact the same premise. Charley Davidson series by Darinda Jones is another reaper story. So originality-wise this book does not rate very high. However, among the reaper books that I have read thus far this one has the best story telling quality. I also like the way Eugenie Danglar reads. The words are clear. She pauses between scenes to let the listener know that the scene has changed. Or at least give an indication that the scene has changed so that the listener does not get confused when the story lines changes and no longer make sense. And her voice is not aggravating to the ears. Kudos to the narration! Being the first book in the series, it is of course, a coming of age kinda book. Journey of self-discovery while battling good versus evil and saving the world. What I do not like is that our heroine has the tendency to be too stupid to live (tstl). What is that all about!?!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 3
World building = 4
Cover art = 4
Pace = 4
Plot = 3
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Reaper Reborn Series:
About Harper A. Brooks:
Harper A. Brooks lives in a small town on the New Jersey shore. Even though classic authors have always filled her bookshelves, she finds her writing muse drawn to the dark, magical, and romantic. But when she isn’t creating entire worlds with sexy shifters or legendary love stories, you can find her either with a good cup of coffee in hand or at home snuggling with her furry, four-legged son, Sammy.
She writes historical and paranormal romance.
Eugenie Danglar
The different formats of this book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
SHATTERED GODS
Book 1 in the Shattered Gods series
Narrated by Ryan Burke
Genre: epic fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
Fated to destroy the world. Determined to save it.
My name is Xal and I live in the dims, a walled prison where my people are kept by our cruel masters, until we are needed to fight once more. One member of every family must answer The Call, for our blood bears the magic of a demonic god, and all the terrible power that brings.
We march to war against the Fomori, an unstoppable army of giants, and their behemoths. If we do not, then our families are put to death. The Hasrans use us as cannon fodder, and worse. They used up my father, and he never came home. Die resisting. Die fighting. My choice isn’t if it happens, but rather how I sell my life.
If by some miracle I survive I will be granted entrance to the Imperial Academy, where every noble house will vie to architect my end. They cannot allow the void-blooded to live. They cannot allow us to thrive, or to gain more magic from the bodies of other dead gods. They cannot allow us to win. They fear the rise of another dreadlord. And they are right to fear. I will pull down an empire, and that is just the beginning.
Most fantasy formulaic route starts with a farm boy who went on to become great and saves the world. This story puts a little twist on that by starting with a prison community instead of a poor farm. So there is a tiny bit of originality in it at least.
The kindle ebook and the audible audiobook are whispersynced. However, there are parts where the two do not match. Like for example, in location 334 of 710 of the ebook, the line reads, “…but the one next to that was Zaro, I thought, a fierce warrior with a weapon in either hand.” But the audiobook says, “…but the man next to that was Dalanthar, the very same steward emblazoned where I trained under Caw.” No, some parts are not the same and some parts are inconsistent. The book sometimes call a god by different names, i.e., as Dalanthus and sometimes as Zaro, and/or used the names of two gods interchangeably. WTF!?! Consequently, the gods, temples, and characters are kinda confusing. On top of that there are clerical errors, i.e., “processor” instead of “professor” (loc 490 of 710 of the kindle ebook). Annoying! This kind of errors are peppered all throughout the book. The editor needs his/her pay docked.
Luiz, a GoodReads reviewer, said that the Academy ways do not make a lot of sense and I agree with him! That put a lot of holes in the plot/story building. In fact the story has so many plot holes in it that if it were a sheet, it would look like it had been striped with a machine gun!
Circle of EightI like that the ebook has some art in it, like the sigil of the Circle of Eight and the Hasra City map. It substantiate the imagination. Adds a dimension to the reading experience that wouldn’t be there if the images were not there. Or maybe it is just me because I have the type of brain that is a visual learner.
I like Ryan Kennard Burke‘s voice. It is not aggravating to the ears. And I like the way he gives life to some characters!
Character development = 3.5
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 3
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (19 hrs and 51 mins listening time)
Plot = 2.5
Narration = 4.5
By day I am an iPhone developer architecting the app used to scope Stephen Colbert’s ear. By night I am Batman. Ok maybe not. One can dream though, right?
I’ve been writing since I was six years old and started inflicting my work on others at age 18. By age 24 people stopped running away when I approached them with a new story and shortly thereafter I published my first one in the Rifter.
Wait you’re still reading?
Ok, the facts I’m supposed to list in a bio. As of this writing I’m 38 years old and live just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the beautiful town of Mill Valley. If you’re unsure how to find it just follow the smell of self-entitlement. Once you see the teens driving Teslas you’ll know you’re in the right place.
I live in a tiny studio that I can cross in (literally) five steps and don’t own an oven. But you know what? It’s worth it. I love developing iPhone apps and if you want to work in San Francisco you accept that rent for a tiny place costs more than most people’s mortgage.
If you and about 2 million other people start buying my books I promise to move out of Marin to a house in the redwoods up in Guerneville. No pressure. Wait that’s a lie. Pressure.
Ryan Kennard Burke is a narrator/voice-over artist, audiobook director, and a Canadian. His parents and extended family are Australian and he lives in America pursuing a career in entertainment. His eclectic background is reflected by his career. Having worked in both Canada and the US as an actor, producer and stuntman he is now working in VO and Audiobooks. During his years of study abroad he has earned both a BFA from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and an MBA from Argosy University. Ryan is an award winning producer, actor and is a current top seller for Audiobooks. You can find his titles by simply browsing his name on Audible.
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.
MISFIT FORTUNE
Misfit Fortune by Stephanie Foxe
Book 3 of the Misfit Pack series
Narrated by Amanda Dolan
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Misfit Fortune:
It’s the brightest light that casts the deepest shadows…
Magic, blood, and politics hide an enemy the pack never saw coming. One with more power than anyone understands.
Enemies are closing in on all sides, but they’re nothing more than a distraction to hide the real threat. It isn’t just the pack at risk –– not anymore.
Magic itself is being threatened.
Amber and her pack are trapped in the middle of a centuries long war, and the time has come to pick a side.
But it’s a choice she won’t be able to take back.
Nothing is as it seems. Trust is a valuable commodity that is sorely lacking in an increasingly dangerous world.
Amber must step up and take her place in the game, shattering illusions and pulling the truth from the shadows.
Source: Info in the About Misfit Fortune was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45214932-misfit-fortune on 17/10/2019.
Buy Link(s):
My Thoughts:
Being the third book, I can say with confidence that this series is a keeper!
At first I did not like the way Ceri is keeping secrets because it seems like the start of the breaking-up of the pack! It soon made sense after reading a little bit further.
The author has added a new twist to the “war of angels and demons” christian mythology that I was not really expecting, and it spiced things up a little bit more! Way to go Stephanie Foxe!!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = (12 hrs & 10 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries
About Stephanie Foxe:
Stephanie Foxe was born and raised near Houston, TX. She grew up playing in the pond and woods in her backyard, and devouring every book she could get her hands on.
Her teen years were spent transitioning slowly from reader, to writer. She spent most evenings on the phone with her cousin writing the first few pages to many books that would never be finished.
Her adult years were spent toiling away at a corporate job until one fateful day when she heard about a little writing project called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). From there, the idea of writing a book went from a fanciful dream to a finished manuscript. The first book in the Witch’s Bite series was written, and Stephanie was addicted.
Now, she has plans to publish everything from paranormal fantasy to science fiction.
One book at a time.
Join the Newsletter to be kept updated on any new releases. Sign up today to receive Unsteady Magic, the short story prequel to the Witch’s Bite series, for free!
About Amanda Dolan:
Amanda is a New York City based actor, improvisor and voiceover artist, who has recorded over 100 audiobooks. She has an MFA in acting from Brown University, and is a member of Actors’ Equity.
Born in Astoria, New York, but lucky enough to have been transplanted to sunny Orange County, CA, Amanda’s upbringing was a perfect mix of East meets West (And by East she means bagels, not sushi).
Amanda loves to develop new plays and musicals. She has workshopped new work with Trinity Rep, Pipeline Theater Company, Soho Rep, Marginal Man Theater Company, The Lark Play Development Center, Playwrights Rep, Brown University and many more.
In addition to stage and film work, Amanda can be heard voicing hundreds of characters in over 100 audiobooks for Audible, Inc., AudioGo (BBC Audiobooks America), Blackstone Audio, John Marshall Media, HarperCollins, and Tantor Media.
The different formats of this book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
KILLING PRETTY
Killing Pretty by Richard Kadrey
Book 7 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback, ebook, & audiobook 
About Killing Pretty:
Someone has tried to kill Death — ripping the heart right out of him — or rather the body he’s inhabiting. Death needs Sandman Slim’s help. He believes anyone who can beat Lucifer and the old gods at their own game is the only one who can solve his murder.
Stark follows a sordid trail deep into LA’s subterranean world, from vampire-infested nightclubs to Weimar Republic mystical societies. Along the way he meets a mysterious girl — distinguished by a pair of graveyard eyes — as badass as Slim; she happens to be the only person who ever outwitted Death. But escaping her demise has had dire consequences for the rest of the world… and a few others.
Source: Info in the About Killing Pretty was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23213849-killing-pretty on 27/06/2016.
My Thoughts:
The thing I like so much about this series is, other than the bad-ass-ness that is, is the real-ness of the world building. I can so totally believe that god is broken into little pieces of himself. Like he gave birth to himselves by breaking up into smaller parts of him. He can’t grow anymore bigger so he broke up. Totally believable. I mean at some point in his life, he can’t get any bigger than he already is. So maybe the next logical step in his evolution is to give birth to himselves. And so appealing to me because that would explain so many shit in the world. This is one of the many reasons why I am such a fan of this series. I also kinda really like the idea of an anti-hero who kicks ass! 🙂
This book also have the most solid plot in the entire series that I could remember. Investigating a murder with a twist, nice plot! Ok, so there never was much of a plot in any of the books in this series, but this one got more than the others. But, for some reason, I find this book really slow… and I could not find the reason why because the story telling quality is as good as it always has been… maybe it’s me being slow. I think another factor contributing to this book being slow is the fact that the introduction to the main plot is very long. As in, half-the-book-worth long, of introduction. That gets tiring…
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 2.5
Pace = 2
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 4.5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Sandman Slim Series:
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This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
MISFIT ANGEL
Misfit Angel by Stephanie Foxe
Book 2 of the Misfit Pack series
Narrated by Amanda Dolan
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Misfit Angel:
Demons are tricksters. Never forget that.
Amber made it through the Trials and is trying to rebuild her life alongside her new pack. She just wants peace.
But once you make a deal with a demon, peace is no longer an option.
As the lines between good and evil become blurred, Amber will find herself facing an impossible choice and a terrible battle. With the werewolf council breathing down her neck and a sorcerer threatening everyone she loves, she will have to depend on her pack more than ever.
And find the strength to fight back.
Source: Info in the About Misfit Angel was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42643929-misfit-angel on 03/10/2019.
Buy Link(s):
My Thoughts:
This time around, the author has added the “war of angels and demons” of the Christian faith angle to the story, which is interesting! It spiced things up! And Woggy is kinda growing on me… While still aligning the story with the series’ main story arch, this book actually has a plot of it’s own. Something I trully appreciated after having read a few urban fantasy books that did not. It’s not thick and it’s not twisty, but it is there! Kudos to this urban fantasy author!! This series is starting to really get its hooks in me! And I am happy to recommend it to all urban fantasy readers!!
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 3.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 4
Plot = 4
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries
About Stephanie Foxe:
Stephanie Foxe was born and raised near Houston, TX. She grew up playing in the pond and woods in her backyard, and devouring every book she could get her hands on.
Her teen years were spent transitioning slowly from reader, to writer. She spent most evenings on the phone with her cousin writing the first few pages to many books that would never be finished.
Her adult years were spent toiling away at a corporate job until one fateful day when she heard about a little writing project called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). From there, the idea of writing a book went from a fanciful dream to a finished manuscript. The first book in the Witch’s Bite series was written, and Stephanie was addicted.
Now, she has plans to publish everything from paranormal fantasy to science fiction.
One book at a time.
Join the Newsletter to be kept updated on any new releases. Sign up today to receive Unsteady Magic, the short story prequel to the Witch’s Bite series, for free!
About Amanda Dolan:
Amanda is a New York City based actor, improvisor and voiceover artist, who has recorded over 100 audiobooks. She has an MFA in acting from Brown University, and is a member of Actors’ Equity.
Born in Astoria, New York, but lucky enough to have been transplanted to sunny Orange County, CA, Amanda’s upbringing was a perfect mix of East meets West (And by East she means bagels, not sushi).
Amanda loves to develop new plays and musicals. She has workshopped new work with Trinity Rep, Pipeline Theater Company, Soho Rep, Marginal Man Theater Company, The Lark Play Development Center, Playwrights Rep, Brown University and many more.
In addition to stage and film work, Amanda can be heard voicing hundreds of characters in over 100 audiobooks for Audible, Inc., AudioGo (BBC Audiobooks America), Blackstone Audio, John Marshall Media, HarperCollins, and Tantor Media.
The different formats of this book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
THE GETAWAY GOD
The Getaway God by Richard Kadrey
Book 6 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About The Getaway God:
Sandman Slim must save himself — and the entire world — from the wrath of some enraged and vengeful ancient gods in this sixth high-octane adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.
Being a half-human, half-angel nephilim with a bad rep and a worse attitude — not to mention temporarily playing Lucifer — James Stark aka Sandman Slim has made a few enemies. None, though, are as fearsome as the vindictive Angra Om Ya — the old gods. But their imminent invasion is only one of Stark’s problems right now. LA is descending into chaos, and a new evil — the Wildfire Ripper — is stalking the city.
No ordinary killer, The Ripper takes Stark deep into a conspiracy that stretches from Earth to Heaven and Hell. He’s also the only person alive who may know how to keep the world from going extinct. The trouble is, he’s also Stark’s worst enemy . . . the only man in existence Stark would enjoy killing twice.
Source: Info in the About The Getaway God was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18456381-the-getaway-god on 11/01/2015.
My Thoughts:
In this book Richard Kadrey brought us back to Stark‘s origins which I wasn’t expecting and was a nice surprise. The past came to haunt him and almost got him too. But of course our bad-ass hero survived.
Not necessarily win… but survived. However I didn’t like the way Stark lost the ability to shadow-walk… That one is a bummer… and that was one of his major advantage against his enemies. Now I wonder how the author is going to spin the story next and let Stark still survive enough for several more books down the line for this series… Probably beat the sh**t out of our hero… Anyway, this book still has the same good story telling quality which has always been true for this series. However, having said that, it still took me a very long time to finish this book. I’m not sure if its me, or the book is just slow. And compared to the other books I’ve read in this series thus far, this is my least favourite. I guess it gotta happen sometime… But that doesn’t mean that I am no longer a fan of this series, because I still very much am… Fingers crossed that Kadrey gets his mojo back with the next book.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 2
Pace = 1.5
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Sandman Slim Series:
This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
FOR THE BIRDS
For The Birds by Angela Roquet
Book 3 of the Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series
Read by Hollie Jackson
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About For The Birds:
Lana Harvey isn’t just any reaper. She’s the new captain of the Posy Unit, a specialty group dedicated to harvesting mass quantities of souls from natural disaster sites, battlefields, and the like. The new title didn’t come without a price though. Lana made some promises along the way, and now it’s time to follow through… even if that means putting herself in the path of the three Fates, a fickle and mighty force to be reckoned with. The Fates run a soul recycling plant in Limbo City, and if Lana isn’t careful, they just might recycle her.
Source: Info in the About For The Birds was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17830430-for-the-birds on 30/12/2017.
My Thoughts:
With this book, the series has really taken off. The first two books were good, but they mainly involved establishing the “basics”, as in, laying the ground work for the rest of the series. Like a “coming of age” kind of theme. With this book, our main protagonist kicked ass! So this book is no longer a 4.5, but a full 5, even though it still ended in a cliffhanger. This book therefore is the best in the series yet. Hopefully, it will be up and up from here on and not a jump off the ledge at some point… Like the previous book, the title still do not make sense… And this book might be the best story but it is the worst cover art yet in the series… However, despite all that moaning, I would still give this book a five. Yes, it was a good read! And no, the individual rating of the parts does not come up to 5, but, the whole is more than its parts. By now, this series and author has gained a firm fan in me. So much so that I bought the first book in another series by this author. We’ll see how the goodness of this author translate in her other books…
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 3
World building = 5
Cover art = 3
Pace = (6 hours and 45 minutes listening time)
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries
About Angela Roquet:
USA Today bestselling Angela Roquet is a great big weirdo. She collects Danger Girl comic books, owls, skulls, random craft supplies, and all things Joss Whedon. She’s a fan of renewable energy, marriage equality, and religious tolerance. As long as whatever you’re doing isn’t hurting anyone, she’s a fan of you, too.
Angela lives in Missouri with her husband and son. She’s a member of SFWA and HWA, as well as the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, her epic book critique group, where she’s known as Death. When she’s not swearing at the keyboard, she enjoys painting, goofing off with her family and friends, and reading books that raise eyebrows.
GRAVEYARD SHIFT, the first novel in Angela’s Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series, is now available for FREE on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, & iBooks. You can find Angela online at www.angelaroquet.com
About Hollie Jackson:
With over 200 audiobooks narrated and produced, Hollie Jackson has worked with both indie and USA Today bestselling authors across a wide range of genres. Hollie’s voice brings characters of all types to vibrant, compelling life, allowing the listener to sit back and enjoy the story.
Growing up in a military family, Hollie found herself lost in the world of poetry and prose, and truly enjoys sharing that joy with others through spoken and written word. As an author, she understands the importance of drawing the reader into the world of the story. As a voracious reader, she enjoys an eclectic range of genre and carries that over into the studio: from contemporary romance to paranormal thrillers, historical fiction to epic fantasy, from erotica to tamer New Adult/Young Adult titles.
Everyone has a story to tell, and Hollie loves to bring those stories to life, one word at a time.
POCKET FULL OF POSIES
Pocket Full Of Posies by Angela Roquet
Book 2 of the Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series
Read by Hollie Jackson
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Pocket Full Of Posies:
Not Your Grandma’s Afterlife…
The promise of peace in Limbo City is threatened once again, but this time the terrorists have a more specific target in mind: Lana Harvey. The up and coming reaper thought passing her classes at the Reaper Academy was going to be her biggest challenge, but when a rebel demon sends her apartment up in flames, she realizes that her victories from the previous year haven’t gone so unnoticed after all…To make matters worse, the Afterlife Council has taken notice of Lana too. The Egyptian god Horus is blackmailing her into joining the Posy Unit so she can do an illegal side job for him, and Cindy Morningstar, Lucifer’s daughter, insists that she take a two week training course with the devilishly tempting Beelzebub, much to her angelic boyfriend’s chagrin.
Source: Info in the About Pocket Full Of Posies was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16039808-pocket-full-of-posies on 27/12/2017.
My Thoughts:
The title is only marginally related to the book…. **sigh** …not much meaning there. But… there’s a lesson there somewhere, however after the holidays, I haven’t got that much energy to dig for it…
The plot is quite straight forward. Go from A to B. Dodge hazards and done. No detours. No twists. And for a moment there, the main protagonist displayed a hint of TSTL (too stupid to live) behaviour, which hopefully will not be repeated. And of course, it’s another cliffhanger…
On the up side, the story telling quality and the world building are still as wonderful as ever! And the narrator, Hollie Jackson, has gained a new fan in me.
Book 1 can be read by any age. This one however, I would recommend to 18 or older only.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 3.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 3
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = (7 hours and 4 minutes listening time)
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries
About Angela Roquet:
USA Today bestselling Angela Roquet is a great big weirdo. She collects Danger Girl comic books, owls, skulls, random craft supplies, and all things Joss Whedon. She’s a fan of renewable energy, marriage equality, and religious tolerance. As long as whatever you’re doing isn’t hurting anyone, she’s a fan of you, too.
Angela lives in Missouri with her husband and son. She’s a member of SFWA and HWA, as well as the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, her epic book critique group, where she’s known as Death. When she’s not swearing at the keyboard, she enjoys painting, goofing off with her family and friends, and reading books that raise eyebrows.
GRAVEYARD SHIFT, the first novel in Angela’s Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series, is now available for FREE on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, & iBooks. You can find Angela online at www.angelaroquet.com
About Hollie Jackson:
With over 200 audiobooks narrated and produced, Hollie Jackson has worked with both indie and USA Today bestselling authors across a wide range of genres. Hollie’s voice brings characters of all types to vibrant, compelling life, allowing the listener to sit back and enjoy the story.
Growing up in a military family, Hollie found herself lost in the world of poetry and prose, and truly enjoys sharing that joy with others through spoken and written word. As an author, she understands the importance of drawing the reader into the world of the story. As a voracious reader, she enjoys an eclectic range of genre and carries that over into the studio: from contemporary romance to paranormal thrillers, historical fiction to epic fantasy, from erotica to tamer New Adult/Young Adult titles.
Everyone has a story to tell, and Hollie loves to bring those stories to life, one word at a time.
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Graveyard Shift by Angela Roquet
Book 1 of the Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series
Read by Hollie Jackson
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About Graveyard Shift:
The Inferno has Evolved…
Lana Harvey is a reaper, and a lousy one at that. She resides in Limbo City, the modern capital of the collective afterlives, where she likes to stick it to the man (the legendary Grim Reaper himself) by harvesting the bare minimum of souls required of her. She’d much rather be hanging out with Gabriel, her favorite archangel, at Purgatory Lounge. But when a shocking promotion falls in her lap, Lana learns something that could unravel the very fabric of Eternity. If the job isn’t completed, there could be some real hell to pay.
Source: Info in the About Graveyard Shift was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16082905-graveyard-shift on 25/12/2017.
My Thoughts:
The Graveyard Shift book… This is a world between the living and the dead. An interesting world building. However, it has all the mundane inanities as our own modern living has… so why is this world an intriguing read while real life is not? I would put that down to the fantastic way the author tells the story. We have a master weaver here. And then of course it ended in a cliffhanger….
Another thing good about this book is that the plot is solid. There is actually a plot! Which a lot of the urban fantasy books seem to forget especially on the first book where all the book does is world building and introduce the readers to the series… This one does that too, and managed to have a plot at the same time! Now, fancy that! Yeah, after reading so many flimsy/flighty urban fantasy, I got jaded… those flighty books sucks the life out of a reader. Not this one though!
This is the first Hollie Jackson book that I’ve listened to and I like the way she narrates. And I also agree with her interpretations. With her input as the narrator she gave this book an added “flavour” that the book would otherwise would not have, had it not been for her particular brand of narration.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 3
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = (7 hours and 22 minutes listening time)
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries
About Angela Roquet:
USA Today bestselling Angela Roquet is a great big weirdo. She collects Danger Girl comic books, owls, skulls, random craft supplies, and all things Joss Whedon. She’s a fan of renewable energy, marriage equality, and religious tolerance. As long as whatever you’re doing isn’t hurting anyone, she’s a fan of you, too.
Angela lives in Missouri with her husband and son. She’s a member of SFWA and HWA, as well as the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, her epic book critique group, where she’s known as Death. When she’s not swearing at the keyboard, she enjoys painting, goofing off with her family and friends, and reading books that raise eyebrows.
GRAVEYARD SHIFT, the first novel in Angela’s Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series, is now available for FREE on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, & iBooks. You can find Angela online at www.angelaroquet.com
About Hollie Jackson:
With over 200 audiobooks narrated and produced, Hollie Jackson has worked with both indie and USA Today bestselling authors across a wide range of genres. Hollie’s voice brings characters of all types to vibrant, compelling life, allowing the listener to sit back and enjoy the story.
Growing up in a military family, Hollie found herself lost in the world of poetry and prose, and truly enjoys sharing that joy with others through spoken and written word. As an author, she understands the importance of drawing the reader into the world of the story. As a voracious reader, she enjoys an eclectic range of genre and carries that over into the studio: from contemporary romance to paranormal thrillers, historical fiction to epic fantasy, from erotica to tamer New Adult/Young Adult titles.
Everyone has a story to tell, and Hollie loves to bring those stories to life, one word at a time.
About
This blog is a sister site of www.cherrymischievous.com. Content on both sites is more or less the same.
ABOUT US
Cherry Mischievous (CM) started out as a personal blog of Cherry. It still is, sort of, among other things. But now, we have evolved into a kind of blog where friends who share the same love of books also blog… to know more about us, click on our names to go to our profiles:
Please note that not all reviews here are positive, but then we do not expect the entire wide world to agree and have the same tastes as us. It would be an incredibly boring and monotonous world! Besides, even among ourselves we don’t agree! One would rate a book 4.5 while the other would rate the same exact book with only 3 or less… So have a look and see, especially if it is your genre of books, even though it garnered a low rating with us, you might find it interesting 🙂
Now, let me tell you about Cherry… I am an avid reader of SciFi/Fantasy/Romance books and always on the look out for a good book to read. I dabble in the black arts of light and shadow… err mmm… photography, I mean. I am also in great excess of 18 years old. I am a nurse and constantly getting in trouble because I refuse to live in a box of preconceptions of other people of how things are suppose to be. And let me tell you, nursing is dominated with “tradition” and “sacred cows“, as any nurse and nursing student will tell you. I love spaghetti, chocolate ice cream, coffee and of course, books! I positively abhor stories with cliffhanger endings and driving in London! I am slightly insane, sometimes sarcastic, can be obnoxious, and totally honest. And oh yeah, people call me tactless too 🙂 Welcome to my corner of the world!
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