“The Sapling” by Dan Gillis

“The Sapling” is the story of a young pickpocket, Firah, who has a secret destiny–of course she does! The “secret chosen one” is classic fantasy; what I appreciated about this take on it was making the main character a female pickpocket. Firah is brash and naive, but slowly matures over the course of the book, […]

“The Temptation of Dragons” by Chrys Cymri

Penny is your typical geek: lives alone, watches too much Doctor Who and Buffy, enjoys whiskey maybe a little more than necessary. Oh, and she’s a woman. And a priest. She ends up performing the last rites on a dragon, and the next thing she knows, she finds herself (to her intense delight) liaising for […]

“Sebastian 2: Dark Times Arising” by Elizabeth Johnson

Sebastian 2: Dark Times Arising is a paranormal romance that has a lot in common with Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, but with its own unique elements. It’s the second book in a series about the tortured romance between a vampire boy who abstains from human blood and a human girl with unusually strong magical […]

“White Serpent, Black Dragon” by Joe Jackson

The sword-and-sorcery subgenre of fantasy isn’t one of my favorites–okay, it’s one of my least favorite. But I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot to like in this sword-and-sorcery-type novel. This is the second book in a series chronicling the adventures of Kari, a dragon-like demonhunter who, after dying and being resurrected (presumably in […]

“The Goddess Embraced” by Deborah Davitt

“The Goddess Embraced” is a fittingly epic final to an epic trilogy (or is it the end? Will the story continue?). Despite all the characters’ efforts to avert the prophecies, the world hurtles towards Ragnarok, forcing everyone to make desperate choices, Sigrun in particular. The world building of the series has been impressive throughout, and […]

“Shadows, Darkness and Light” by P. Zoro

I’m not normally a huge fan of short story collections, but I absolutely loved this one. The stories are emotionally intense in a way that I don’t normally find short stories to be–so much so that sometimes the book was hard to read, even though there was nothing particularly graphic about it. I really felt […]

“His Every Desire” by Krista Lakes

I was instantly intrigued when I read the premise for this book: billionaire playboy falls for a waitress–because she dominates him in the bedroom. The inversion of the usual relationship for this kind of story promised something interesting. The actual execution of the story is less excitingly different than I’d hoped; however, fans of the […]

“Of Fear and Faith” by N.D. Jones

“Of Fear and Faith” is the first installment in what promises to be a very fun, readable paranormal romance/romantic thriller series with a twist. I have the slash because it combines elements of both genres: Sanura, the female lead, is a child psychologist brought in to help with a serial killer case by the male […]

“The Wonder #2: Deep Blue” by James Devo

“Deep Blue” continues the story of the picaresque characters introduced in “Blood Red.” Alliances are broken and reformed as our (anti) heroes have to face an army of undead and mechnological horrors… The book is action-packed, with multiple storylines running at once. This is something I tend to find a little difficult to follow (I […]

“Blood Red: The Wonder Book One” by James Devo

In “Blood Red” we are introduced to a steampunk/alternate world that is vaguely Victorian/Edwardian in flavor, but in which humanity has access to Wonder, a form of magic that is used instead of electricity, gunpowder, steam, etc. Different kinds of Wonder are mined or reclaimed from deposits, and the story follows two different groups who […]