Helen Garraway's Blog, page 27

Book Review Alert: Wicked Hunt by SK Alexander

Reviewed: April 10th 2023
Released: January 24th, 2022
Genre: Crime Thriller

A vicious sniper on the loose in Los Angeles. A grief-stricken empath. A ticking clock…

For Nathaniel Colt, Los Angeles is not the City of Angels. For the empath, LA is hell. A quick visit turns into a nightmare when the former special agent becomes embroiled in the hunt for a ruthless sniper terrorizing the city.

When the lurking evil puts the profiler and those closest to him in his crosshairs, a race against time begins and the consultant must rely on his psychic abilities before their time runs out.

Can Nathaniel save those close to him or will LA, once again, prove that it is hell on Earth for the empath?

Read My Thoughts. ..

Book Review Alert: The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

Reviewed: April 7th 2023
Released: January 24th, 2022
Genre: Crime Thriller

It’s time to solve the murder of the century….

Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children’s book by disgraced author Edith Twyford, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. Wanting to know more, he took it to his English teacher Miss Iles, not realising the chain of events that he was setting in motion. Miss Iles became convinced that the book was the key to solving a puzzle and that a message in secret code ran through all Twyford’s novels. Then Miss Iles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven has no memory of what happened to her.

Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Iles murdered? Was she deluded? Or was she right about the code? And is it still in use today?

Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Iles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn’t just a writer of forgotten children’s stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn’t the only one trying to solve it….

Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Soul Marked by Lissa Bolts

Reviewed: April 5th 2023
Released: October 26th 2022
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Oh, hey. Nora here.

Just over here trying to process everything I’ve learned lately—the least of it being that magic is real, and I’m the last in a long line of practically extinct jinn.

Me? Magic? What?

You might be wondering why all of that isn’t taking center stage in my currently mind-blown state. Well… I’ve got bigger problems.

Namely, I trusted the wrong person.

We’ve all been there, right? But of course, when I do it, I wake up not knowing where I am or how I got there. To top it off, something isn’t quite right with me. I’m off. But maybe that’s just what happens when your heart is splintered into a million tiny pieces.

Whatever the case, I’m done with all the half-truths and secrets. It’s time for me to figure out why everyone seems to know more about me than I do. Why the entire magical world is watching every move I make with bated breath.

But most of all, I’m going to find out why he did this to me. And then I might just make him pay with the one thing that’s ripe for my taking…

His soul.

Read My Thoug hts…

Book Review Alert: Messenger by A.L Morrow

Reviewed: March 19th, 2023
Released: August 1st, 2022
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Hell on Earth? Not if these angels can help it.

Nothing has been the same for Messenger angel Cyrus since Jace was exiled from the celestial community. Night after night, he searches Sin City for the demon who might have the answers he needs to find his lost love. But his quest hasn’t gone unnoticed. Dark forces reach Cyrus first, and a brutal encounter with his enemy leaves him at the mercy of the ruthless warrior who once broke his heart.

Believing Cyrus has been killed, Jace returns to Sin City with a death wish and one thought in mind: vengeance. Instead, he finds Cyrus alive and the unsuspecting center of a plot that will change Sin City—for the worse—forever.

Time has never been a friend to Jace and Cyrus, but now the clock is ticking faster than ever. With the fate of the city on the line, they’ll need to choose between saving each other or saving their souls. Read My Thoughts…

Sentinals Across Time is a Finalist for the 2022 CIBA OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction

The tension is rising! Can you feel it? Sentinals Across Time, the fourth book in the epic fantasy Sentinal Series has made it through to the Finals for the 2022 Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction!

The Ozma Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Fantasy Fiction. The Ozma Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards discovers the best books in the Ozma Awards featuring magic, the supernatural, imaginary worlds, fantastical creatures, legendary beasts, mythical beings, or inventions of fancy that author imaginations dream up without a basis in science as we know it. Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Dragons, Unicorns, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Gaslight Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, or other out-of-this-world fiction. These books have advanced to the Semi Finals in the 2022 CIBAs OZMA division.

Sentinals Across Time has moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Ozma Fantasy Fiction entries to the 2022 Ozma Book Awards FINALS. Entries are now in competition for 2022 Ozma FINALIST.  Finalists will be selected from the Semi Finailsts. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23) on April 29th, 2023.

Sentinals Across Time is the fourth book in the saga of Remargaren, a vibrant, ancient world of high fantasy suffused with magic and adventure.

Jerrol’s fragile balance between duty and family life took two years to refine and one brief moment to tear apart as the Lady Leyandrii and the Oath conspire in a desperate bid to protect the Birtolian Empire. As a result, Jerrol finds himself stranded in the middle of an ocean, lost across land and time and seas.

Unsure what is expected of him, Jerrol learns to appreciate the idyllic life of the Birtolians, the vibrant people and the beautiful coastline. To his growing horror, he realises the devastation which lies in their future.

Can Jerrol prevent the destruction of the gentle people he has grown to love? Is he meant to? Desperate to find a way home, he begins to leave clues in anything he thinks will survive the test of time. Taelia and the Sentinals are his only chance of ever returning to his own life but can they find him before the Lady sunders the Bloodstone and changes the Birtolian Empire forever?

The fourth installment of the Sentinal Series takes us to the beautiful Island Empire of Birtoli. Only once, it wasn’t an archipelago of islands, it was a land of majestic mountain ridges, mystical forests and exquisite sandy bays joined as one to the southern Vespiri borders.

If you would like to stay in contact and follow my writing career, then sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.

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Book Review Alert: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Reviewed: March 30th, 2023
Released: August 13th, 2020
Genre: Science Fiction Fantasy

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place. Read My Thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Twice Upon a Name by Various Indie Authors

Reviewed: March 29th, 2023
Released: April 20th, 2023
Genre: Fairytales

Double the name and double the magic, mystery, and mayhem

Once upon a time, a fairy tale name generator issued a challenge to a group of authors. Volume Two of these quirky stories brings double trouble.

In this clean YA anthology, spy on thieves discovering their princely identities, accompany villains seeking redemption along with accident-prone geese, and rejoice in the reunion of siblings separated at birth. Side with twins split between good and evil, giggle over mistaken identities, and discover the secrets of royal doppelgängers. When fates are intertwined by a namesake, mayhem and mischief are sure to follow.

Venture into this collection of adventurous stories by award-winning and up-and-coming authors and see if what happens once . . . happens twice!

Pssst…some characters from Once Upon A Name might make a comeback, but the two sets and all stories in them can be read as standalones.

All proceeds donated to charity in support of reading and literacy.

Sentinals Justice now available on Audiobook!

The third book in the Sentinal series is now avaialble in Audio book. You can find it on Audible, Amazon or Apple Books.

All 16 hours and 26 minutes of it, narrated by the amazing Matt Coles. Check out the audio sample and start the adventure now.

The Sentinal series

I’ve loved working on this third installment of the series. Prepare yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions as Matt takes you to the icy lands of Elothia.

Now you can meet Jerrol and the Sentinals whilst you drive, exercise or work. Pick up your copy from Audible, Amazon or Apple Books.

Sentinals Justice is the third book in the saga of Remargaren, a vibrant, ancient world of high fantasy suffused with magic and adventure.

The third installment of the Sentinal series takes us to the frozen north, to the Grand Duchy of Elothia. Border tensions with Elothia force King Benedict to send a diplomatic envoy to sue for peace. Benedict has his hands full with Vespiri and Terolia, he can’t afford a war on his northern border as well. Commander Jerrol Haven is sent to broker peace. Having met Grand Duke Randolf the thirteenth before, Jerrol hopes their previously successful negotiations will assist in a speedy resolution and allow him time to discover how to rescue Birlerion from the Ascendants.

Meanwhile, the Chapterhouse has received a request for a scholar to assist in searching for signs of the Sentinals in Elothia. Taelia is assigned the task, because Scholar Torsion is also missing after the attack at the Watch Towers.

Amidst escalating tensions and conflicting needs, Jerrol journeys to Elothia, hoping to meet with Randolf before the Ascendants can influence him. Escorting Taelia is an unexpected bonus. Can Jerrol stop Elothia and Vespiri from going to war? Will they find more Sentinals? And can they find out where the Ascendants took Birlerion and Torsion before it is too late.

If you’ve read this far, you deserve a gift! I have a few Audible promo codes allowing you to download my audiobook for free. You can apply for a free code here. (Limited number of codes available so don’t delay. When they are gone, they are gone!) Let me know what you think by leaving a review.

Happy Listening!

If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.

Join my email list

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Book Review Alert: A Threat of Shadows by JA Andrews

Reviewed: March 25th, 2023
Released: September 6th, 2018
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Alaric betrayed everything he believed to save Evangeline — and failed.

His last chance to save the woman he loves lies in an ancient Wellstone, a repository of power, buried and lost long ago.

Luck—or something more troubling—leads him to a small group searching for the same stone.

A disgruntled dwarf,

a bumbling wizard,

and an elf with an unsettling amount of power.

If he can gain their trust, they might help him find the cure.

But the Wellstone holds more than he knows, and a terrible evil he’d thought defeated is stirring again, searching for the stone.

Can the companions survive a traitor, a dragon, and their own pasts to reach the stone before time runs out? Read my thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Wished Marked by Lissa Bolts

Reviewed: March 19th, 2023
Released: August 1st, 2022
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Hi. I’m Nora, and I bring people’s worst nightmares to life.

Everyone needs a hobby, right? Well, in my case, that’s making people’s wishes come true, but in the worst possible way.

Sometimes people even wind up dead.

I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But the truth is, I don’t do it on purpose. I’m cursed, and I’m running out of time to fix it.

Enter Rafe Morgan, the dangerously gorgeous and impossibly stubborn man I just met at a bar in my search for answers. I never invited him on my curse-breaking she-quest, but that didn’t stop him from coming along anyway.

He’s already saved my life more than once, so for now… he can stay. But how can I be sure he’s really on my side? He knows more than he’s saying, and I can’t help but question his motives.

Unfortunately for me, there’s more at stake than I realized, and I’m about to learn the hard way just how far I’ll go to stay alive.

I’ve searched my whole life and found nothing. No answers. No cure. Not one hint about making this nightmare curse disappear.

Well, that is… until today. Read my thoughts…