Diedra Drake's Blog, page 3

Diedra Goes Unscripted with Beastmaster Media

I had an opportunity to interview with a great host (Eddie) and you definitely want to check it out. No planned questions, only on the fly responses. I may ramble and hem and haw more than normal, but if you want to listen in to something very authentic, take a listen.

I talk about tons of stuff with my writing! We chat about my new book coming out, the process I use for writing, and even about how I got started in fiction.

The Weekly Grind Diedra Drake Episode 15

Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series by H.M. Sandlin

Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series by H.M. Sandlin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It really takes a lot for me to get into anything YA, but this one totally pulled me in. I fell into this world of elementals and discovered that I enjoyed the starting mythology/creation story the author constructed. The youth in this series have some aspect(s) of elemental power, and they do attend a special academy to learn to control it.

This story focuses on one such girl, Sally, who accidentally used some water...

Crooked Souls by Jacob Klop

Crooked Souls by Jacob Klop
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ll preface this review by saying that I don’t read or watch horror, so I may not be the best person to give an opinion on this book. That said, I thought the stories in it were excellently written.

I found the ‘scare’ level of these to be just right for me, and I was really impressed at how complete the stories felt. It’s a collection of short stories, but I was given enough in each story to be pulled in. That’s no small feat! I’ve read...

Borderlands (Prelude, Book 0) by Charles Gull

Prelude by Charles Gull
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This little book blew me away. It’s a fast read and the book description paints an accurate picture.

I’ll start by saying that I think one of the hardest parts of reading fully different world hard sci-fi or epic fantasy is that it can feel overwhelming to get saturated by so many new names for things. Magically, this author avoided putting me in the uncomfortable position of feeling like I need to keep notes about the names. It’s not to say...

Between Two Minds: Awakening by D.C. Wright-Hammer

Between Two Minds: Awakening by D.C. Wright-Hammer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you’re looking for something interesting to read in the science fiction segment, this definitely fits the bill. The story alternates between two primary perspectives; one is a young man with a birth defect who will undergo a costly procedure to move his mind into a new body, and the other is a military soldier who is introduced to the story during a combat situation. Very soon after having his procedure, Ryan begins...

Vampires, Ghosts, Knights & other Poetic Tales by Jacqueline Mead

Vampires, Ghost ,Knights & other Poetic Tales: Poems with a Tale to be told by Jacqueline Mead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This collection of poetry is unique to a lot that I’ve read. Most of the poems are longer than average which, in my book, is always a plus!

In case you’re totally unfamiliar with this kind of poetry, these poems aren’t just random thoughts or bits and pieces – as she says, they are tales. Mini stories all wrapped up in a poetic verse, and I love that this author doesn’t hold...

After School Special by JA Martin

After School Special by JA Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a fun, erotic short-story that explores what happens when a woman encounters her teenage crush several years later. Let’s make it clear from the beginning that there is nothing underage in this story. There is some legal age teacher/student interaction, as an inciting incident, but most of the story takes place in the context of the further future.

Those disclaimers out of the way, the story was extremely well written. The characters were neither fl...

Cass: Shifters of Lost Paradise Mountain Book One by Athani Lynn Cooper

Cass: Shifters of Lost Paradise Mountain Book One by Athani Lynn Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a new favorite in the shifter genre for me. I love, love, the idea of shifter gargoyles. I especially loved the way that the author puts a slightly different spin on the shifter concept so that there are basically two entities sharing a single body. I enjoyed the way that the gargoyle side of Cass and the human side argued over things, and the concept of locking each side away.

The romance element be...

Non-KU Amazon Book Buys

I recently got an offer from Amazon that read… spend $45 on ebooks and get $30 back to spend on more ebooks. Obviously, that was a deal I couldn’t possibly refuse. So I put out some feelers on Twitter, and I got a lot of responses. A lot.

So how did I whittle the list down to my final choices… well I started at the beginning. Everything that was available on Kindle Unlimited (KU) was off the list because I already have a subscription to KU and I can read those books anytime. I did find lots of t...

Murder So Heartless: A Merry March Mystery (Book 3) by Eileen Curley Hammond

Murder So Heartless: A Merry March Mystery by Eileen Curley Hammond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve read the first two books in the series and was excited to get started on the third one. I wasn’t disappointed to find that Merry March and her daughter had found themselves drawn into another predicament in their little town.

This one definitely puts the culinary in these cozy mysteries, as the amazing food is a character all its own! Merry is starting to get a reputation around town for her amateur sleuthing, and it...