Ian Conner's Blog: Ian Conner Reviews, page 5

BOOK REVIEW The Blood Inside Me -- Ann Brooks

Ann Brooks prologue works wonderfully, drawing the readers in and keeping the pages turning. The following chapters tantalize a mystery for our protagonist and the book lovers. Elly’s life in New York has been destroyed. There is built-in tension of the move to Georgia and between her and her estranged grandparents, who she barely knows. Elly is cast adrift with no parents, no friends, and less than cooperative relatives. Nothing is as it seems. Brooks is an expert at teasing, keeping details just out of reach until much later than you would expect. Enticing readers on to the next chapter looking for answers. There is always an atmosphere that no one is willing to tell the whole story without disclosing why. Elly’s search for the truth is complicated by her grandmother, the failing family matriarch whose need for control and her own fears muddy Elly’s search, thwarting her pursuit of answers in many cases.

Brooks writes her story in the fashion of a slow-moving train, too slow sometimes, the train eventually picks up speed as secret after secret are revealed. She surprises readers on several occasions like a barrel roll on a coaster followed by a drop into this new information. Like so many young adult novels a great deal of time is spent laying out the school scene and potential friends and enemies. Too much in my opinion. Characters are unpredictable and Elly in particular undergoes a change throughout the book. As steady as the first part of the book is the last third is moving with hurricane force wind pushing the plot along.

Eventually questions are answered, well almost all of them. Book two is in work and well teased in a two-page preview. Reader’s persistence is well rewarded and a satisfying end without giving away the farm is in store.

Ian Conner Black Raptor Reviews Five Stars

Reviewed on October 12, 2022

Teen and YA Fantasy

Order Here

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Inside-Me-Ann-Brooks/dp/1087948401

BOOK BLITZ Velvet Cruelty Eve Dangerfield

Purchase: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3EpUa5P

A girl barely old enough to be called a woman is sitting on a bench two hundred feet below me. She’s laughing, a cutesy box of cupcakes on her knees. I adjust my lens scope and her face comes into focus. Green eyes, pale skin, and a wide, soft mouth with lips as red as blood—a color I’ve seen more of than most. She picks up a cupcake and holds it away from herself, as though afraid to taste it. Knowing her stepmother, she probably is.

Terrell says something and she laughs, her long ebony black hair catching the light. People stare as they walk past, their mouths falling ope

n. The girl’s always been pretty but since she turned eighteen no one can take their eyes off her. I move my scope half an inch to the left and find Terrell. Clean-shaven with a hint of baby fat around the cheeks and chin. He looks younger than thirty-eight. And soft. The kind of guy you’d size up if you were looking to jump someone at a train station.

My finger brushes the rifle trigger. One squeeze, the whisper-jerk of a bullet and he’d be gone. But a quick death is better than Zachery Terrell deserves.

Author Bio

Eve Dangerfield has loved ro

mance novels ever since she first swiped her grandmother’s paperbacks. Now she writes her own stories about complicated women and gorgeous but slightly tortured men. Her work has been described as genre-defying, insanely hot ‘the defibrillator contemporary romance needs right now;...and not just by herself or those who might need bone marrow...OTHER PEOPLE! She lives in Melbourne with her boy and a bunch of semi-dead plants. She can generally be found making a mess.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61427184-velvet-crueltyPurchase:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3EpUa5PB&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/velvet-cruelty-eve-dangerfield/1141739740?ean=2940186717799

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/gr/book/velvet-cruelty/id6443120106Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/velvet-crueltyGoogle Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=Wa95EAAAQBAJAuthor links:

https://www.evedangerfield.com/

https://www.facebook.com/evedangerfield/

https://www.instagram.com/evedangerfield/

https://twitter.com/Eve_Dangerfield

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14427168.Eve_Dangerfield

GRITTY and RAW --Shakespear Burning -- Charisse Moritz

Gritty. Charisse Moritz view through Shake and Cleo’s eyes is stark and realistic. I imagine it is what teenagers these days sound like in the absence of adults. Both characters have had tough lives and Moritz draws that picture clearly with her dialogue and situations. The monologue is short of rants and characters attempts at humorous commentary occasionally fall flat but the good jokes far outnumber the bad. Moritz’s draws readers into all the characters how minor. The writing captures the high school situations all too well. The meanness of teenagers and the angst of those years is fully on display. Moritz captures the relationship between Shake and Cleo amazingly.

Moritz tackles tough subject matter without shying away from it, in some cases graphic descriptions. The surroundings for the two characters are short of neglect, giving the ambience of two juvenile delinquents. Cleo intends to save Shake for some reason and that fact continually comes through in her actions and her dialogue.

The author does an excellent job of containing the mystery of why one character has gone from Mr. Popular to self-destruction and how a pining Cleo is intent on saving him regardless of what he wants and if he is too stupid to see what is in front of him.

Moritz’s writing is quite descriptive, I felt I could have been watching an episode of some high school drama on the CW. Finding your way in high school is hard and her writing certainly reflect the genuine experience for most. She takes her time getting to the point but without any damage to the plot. The book has a number of adult situations, and I would not classify it in the young adult category. At 325 pages it is not a huge read. If you are searching for a survival tale with more than a few laughs, I highly recommend this book.

Ian Conner, Author of Cardinals, Ghost Witch, and Griffin’s Perch.

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Get Your Copy Today THE GUARDIAN

Savard watched her delicate jaw drop at the sight of his fangs. Never in his long life had he shown a human what kind of creature lurked behind the visage of a man. He waited for her scream, expected her terrified flight or even a fainting spell. Instead of acting like a normal human, she just sat there, taking it all in, processing, and then out of the blue, the minx slugged him in the shoulder.

He groaned, not so much from her punch, but from stabilizing his core muscles to keep his body upright. Through gritted teeth, Savard asked, “What the hell was that for?”

“Give it a guess,” she huffed, not frightened, and certainly not shying away. “You can speak. Just say what you are. You didn’t need to threaten me with the pointy teeth.”

“Wasn’t a threat…won’t bite,” he mumbled. He knew he was behaving poorly, but his body ached, his hunger beat a heavy cadence against his tongue, and this woman had ruined his plans for a quick death.

His eyelids drifted shut, his head tilted back against the cushion. He was getting worse. The pain was there, but not exactly excruciating, making it easier to speak. His body was numbing out, going cold on the inside. Sensation was slipping away, along with life.

“If you’re what I think you are, then…” her soft voice trailed off, as if redirecting her question. “What can I do? Be honest.”

“Nothing you’d be willing to do,” Savard said, cracking one eye open to observe her reaction, and when she shifted closer, he suddenly realized she still held his hand. In fact, her grip had never wavered. Even after he’d bared his fangs.

“Like letting you bite me? How can you be sure I wouldn’t?”

“I’m not asking.”

“But if it would

help you…” Her delicate eyebrows scrunched together, and she asked in earnest, “Would it help you? And would it hurt?”

His lips twitched, the beginnings of a smile that never fully formed. For some reason, he found explaining the nuances of a vampire’s bite to this innocent human amusing. “Blood heals. A bite is more pleasure than pain.”

“I wouldn’t turn into a…”

“No.”

“When you bite someone…” Her voice was hesitant, the first subtle hint of trepidation he’d found in her. “Do they die?”

“No. Life is precious,” he said quietly.

Deafening silence surrounded him and he closed his eyes again, the calm lulling him. Several minutes passed, or perhaps more, and then he unexpectedly caught her scent. The soft, delicate flesh of this woman had a scent all its own, and he opened his eyes to see her leaning close to him, her hand pulling that fluffy white-blonde mass of randomly braided hair away from her neck. Savard growled, closing his eyes against the temptation, and turned away from her.

“Why not?” she asked, her steady voice sending shivers through his battered body.

Teeth clenched, he said, “You should have left me there.”

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BOOK REVIEW: KINGS MATE

Kings Mate by Melissa Blincoe

Review by Ian Conner Four Stars

https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Mate-Tyr...


Blincoe’s characters are engaging and immersive. Natalie, Rexxor and Lillenth have a Legacies feel to them but certainly have more depth than what you would expect in erotica.
Details regarding the history of the virus and first contact need a bit of filling in. That being said the plotline is clever. The aliens are a masculine bunch and diplomacy allows women to travel to their planet on a volunteer basis.

It is a short book full of romance, sex and a bit of comedy. Blincoe has created an erotic atmosphere of intrigue and anticipation. Her writing is brusque without being crude. Sex scenes are plentiful and of decent description. Travel to another planet, a jealous former suitor and a kidnapping fill out the plotlines. The storyline is logical and the tale is more than just sex. It sets up books two and three in excellent fashion. I sure that they are just as enjoyable as book one and probably more polished than the debut. Four Stars.

Ian Conner, Author of Griffin's Perch and Cooper's Ridge

Book Review: SHE NAMED ME Wolf

She Named Me Wolf by  Tenkara Smart
Review by Ian Conner  Five Stars   

 
Tenkara Smart deals with the heartbreaking subject of child abuse at the hands of an alcoholic parent amazingly. How “Wolf” deals with it is equally amazing. Reincarnation and ghosts as a coping mechanism is BRILLIANT. With the subject, one might expect a constant barrage of sadness, but Smart perfected the balance. Both Wolf and Polly are totally endearing. The writing is simple, reflecting the child’s point of view. A few things keep the readers guessing. Try as she might to save him, Smart makes the father figure completely unredeemable and quite easy to hate. She does an excellent job of tackling a terrible subject without depressing the reader. You will root for Wolf and his ‘friends’ in all their forms. Five Stars.
Ian ConnerIan Conner author of The Long Game and The Price of Partisanship

BOOK REVIEW: Reborn The Royal Pack Trilogy Book 1

Book Review by Ian Conner 5 Stars

Reborn: The Royal Pack Trilogy Book 1 Anne K. Whelan

https://www.amazon.com/Reborn-Trilogy...

Anne Whelan and Liz Cain grip the reader in a vice right away and drag you into the enigma called Aine. The characters are completely fleshed out, with depth and emotion. The intrigue begins the first few pages a never lets up. The author’s style is haunting without being a lingering melancholy. The mystery man, Lachlan, shows up and is not sure what to do with Aine, just like the readers are not sure what to expect from Lachlan. The haunting theme continues as the authors fill in the plot. Sex sells and there is enough to keep things steamy.

Easily paving the way for books two and three, the plotting and pacing are wonderful. I spent a day reading non-stop. Not because of a review deadline but because it was so damn much fun! You will love the characters, love the story and will not want to put this or the next two down without finishing.
5 Stars

Ian Conner
Author of Cardinals and Ghost Witch

Book Review: BLOOD, SOULS AND SACRIFICE

BLOOD, SOUL AND SACRIFICE
Five Stars

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Souls-Sa...

Blood Souls and Sacrifice
Donald Parker takes a classic and reboots into a new spin. Adding new characters to the tale. Parker has

a melody to his writing that is pleasant and along with the action keeps you reading. Debra and Richard are like Hansel and Gretel, of vampire slayers taking out toothy fiends instead of witches. The book has excellent dialogue. Until the dragons show up it has a vibe similar to the original Buffy and the Vampire Slayer vibe.
Character descriptions are almost happy.
“one old nun with a tiny, round nose, beautiful brown eyes, and wrinkly dimples…”
The dichotomy of Werewolves and Vampires has almost a comedic tone while keeping the action coming as he builds the fundamental conflict. Parker fills in the characters’ backstory without a long exposition. Bringing dragons into the mix is just brilliant. Five Stars.

Ian Conner
Author of Cardinals, Ghost Witch

Book Review: PASSAGE

Passage Five Stars


There is great tension from the start. Frank and Bret come across as the loveable, eccentric uncles, like Robert Duval and Michael Caine in Secondhand Lions. Charles leaves the readers smoldering with questions for the first several chapters. After that it is off to the races with mysticism. The plot gets filled in a most enjoyable way. I won’t spoil the ending but Charles isn’t writing feel bad book. Highly Recommended.
Ian Conner, Author of “Skadegemutc: Ghost Witch

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pass...

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