Phoebe Prince's Blog: HD Lynn, author, page 9

Book Review and Giveaway: The Younger Gods

The Younger Gods by Micheal R. Underwood

Jacob had what could understatedly be called an unusual upbringing by an occultist family in North Dakota. But these aren’t just any crazies living off the grid–Jake is from the Greene family, a group of fanatics who believe they’re going to be the ones to bring about the Apocalypse by releasing the Younger Gods of the Deep into the human world and ushering in the last age of man. This–and a graphic incident where Jake’s only childhood friend is tricked into getting his heart cut out on prom night–causes Jake to flee from his family and move to New York City. Jake hopes to leave all of his occult baggage behind him, but when his sister, Esther, begins committing ritualistic sacrifices in Central Park, he knows he’s the only one who can stop her.

Jake enlists the help of his Nephilim roommate (Carter), the daughter of a voodoo high priestess (Antoinette), an ex-NYPD cop turned supernatural soldier (Dorthea), and a smorgasbord of other denizens of New York that are involved in the supernatural community. During the best moments, the complex supernatural network is reminiscent of what I loved about Neil Gaimen’s Neverwhere; we’re treated to what feels like the tip of the iceberg of a vast and complex world. The aspects of supernatural New York are deftly woven with the aspects of what makes real New York unique, and this story definitely feels like it couldn’t have taken place anywhere else but New York. That said, you’ll enjoy this story more if you like New York or buy into the mystique (and what I personally consider the myth) of what makes New York special. If you’re a bit ‘meh’ on New York in general, then the little details of this book might just make you role your eyes. The major plot of the book is Jake & Co. going around to each burrough to alert and then help protect the five hearts of New  York. If you just rolled your eyes at that line, you probably shouldn’t read this book because this plot consumes the majority of the story.

There’s a lot going on in this novel, and it’s never lacking in action. There were points where I almost felt that too much was happening too fast, but this is intentional because Jake & Co. are always one step (or in some cases, a hundred steps) behind Esther, who’s an incredibly powerful sorceress. The many action set pieces are inventive, so the story never drags, but it deprives the story of the space to do a bit more character building. There is so much in this novel–so many characters, so many set pieces–that I found myself wishing that the ‘less is more’ approach had been taken; Dorthea, Antoinette, and Carter are integral members of Jake’s team (and the only thing he has comparable to friends), but it takes nearly half the novel to get any sense of who they are and really begin to root for them. The relationship and understanding that develops between Jake and Carter is subtle and well-done, but it’s the only major character development that any of the side characters gets in the story.

The best two characters in the novel by far are Jake and Esther. Jake is an awkward home-schooled kind raised by what are essentially fundamentalist parents (just the Satanic and not the Christian variety), and that aspect of his character is played straight and for laughs. Jake misses the multitude of pop-cultural references the other characters sling around, but there’s a wounded aspect to his personality; this battle is personal to him. Esther is determined to fulfill her life’s purpose as the scion of the Greene family and bring about the birth of the Younger Gods. She’s incredibly powerful and a stone-cold psycho. The best moments in the story are between Esther and Jake; even when they’re just talking, it’s a battle. I wish we could’ve had more chapters from Esther’s perspective because she’s a zealot who’s committed to her cause, and when you get to see how cunning and single-minded she is in her pursuit, everything else Jake & Co. are doing starts to feel less like plot dressing and more like high stakes.

There’s a wonderful twist on the Apocalypse in this book, but even before that, there’s a lot going on under the surface of this action packed story. The diversity of New York is a major aspect of what makes this story work, and Dorthea explaining why she quit her job as a cop to become a supernatural protector of ‘the people who fall through the cracks’ helped focus the aspect of what this novel was really about. There’s no ‘special’ supernatural place for the homeless in New York to hide, though, so they really do need someone like Dorthea around to protect them from literal spirits of garbage and decay. This aspect of the city is deftly mixed with Jake coming to terms with his heritage as he begins to integrate into the NYC supernatural community, revealing that he, too, is a Greene. He questions whether his family really loved him or if people that twisted are even capable of love; he can’t tell the lies from the truth in his childhood.

Random Thoughts:

When the first line includes “drastically fewer blood sacrifices with dinner”, I knew this was my type of book.
There’s a nice parallel between what it means to work on a group project vs. what it means to really work as a group.
I’m really fine being a tourist in NYC. There were parts of this book where I was like ‘yeah, I’m living as close to that city as I ever want to live.’
I wanted to eat Indian food after this one scene. So…good…
I’ve never read a character who reminded me more of Castiel than Jake did. This is not a bad thing.

Read if: You’re a fan of New Weird. There’s no place more urban than New York, either, and there’s no place else I could’ve imagined this story happening because there are so many people in that city. There’s a lot of different ideas woven throughout this story, and it stands on it’s own while also being the gateway into a bigger series.

Beware if: Books with too much action make you feel like you’re having a seizure.

My rating: 4, and mostly because I kind of don’t get New York, and some of this kept me from connecting with the characters and larger, thematic elements of this story. That said, this book is a ride, and the conflict between Jake and Esther never bored me.

BONUS!

The first two people to reply in the comments get a free ebook of The Younger Gods, courtesy of Pocket Star. You must leave you internet nom de plume as well as a VALID, non-spam email address.

Book Review: Fall

Fall (The Ragnarok Prophesies #2) by A.K. Morgen

Fall picks up about a month after Fade ends, and Arionna is recovering in the hospital from Skröll and Hati’s attack. Arionna is now plagued by nightmares of Fenrir and the twin demon wolves; she’s also starting to understand the darker side of Dace’s nature. Dace is willing to sacrifice anything and everyone to keep her from being attacked again, and Arionna fears this is going to turn him into a literal monster, so she leaves Bebee to go in search of answers to stop the apocalypse.

The story starts out stronger than Fade does, and there’s an urgency to Arionna’s problems in this book that there wasn’t in the first one. Her relationship to Dace is sorely tested, too, and there are good moments where Dace gives off the vibe that he could potentially become abusive. Arionna is smart enough to realize that, if she doesn’t figure this thing out for herself, Dace’s need to protect her is going to lead him to further manipulate her, controlling every aspect of her life. This is a challenge most heroines with alpha male boyfriends face, and Arionna is wise enough to know what the starter kit for an abusive relationship looks like; in a nice twist, she leaves Dace instead of him fleeing to protect her from himself.

The other characters that benefit from spending more time with them in the sequel are Chelle, who I didn’t have much of a sense of as an individual before, and Ronan, who was the surprise not-an-actual-bad-guy in Fade. The story also nicely sidesteps conflicts with love triangles by having Arionna struggle with herself and Dace, which eliminates the need to use Ronan as a love interest. If you want relationship conflict, a brooding bad boy, but hate love triangles, this sequel is going to make you very happy. I found myself liking Ronan, but I’m a corvid/avian fan, so that’s not a hard sell. Not going to lie, I hope the sequel includes the potential of a new love interest for Ronan because I appreciate romances where the characters come into it with a lot of baggage and no illusions about True Love, only with the feeling that they need each other or are better together than apart. Ronan could benefit from this, but I’m not sure he’ll get it. Arionna and Dace’s relationship is more of the cosmic love variety, and the story does a good job at layering it with conflict despite this fact.

My big time beef with this book is, while I enjoyed the characters a lot more, the ending left the story feeling incomplete, but not in a good way. This book is trying to set up for the big conclusion, but ends up offering very few climactic moments or pay offs of its own, and I went into the ending prepared for a big twist and a surprise via the big mythology mysteries the story teases. There is plenty of new mythology layered into the story, and Fade used its mythology to create a surprising yet satisfying ending, but Fall, well, falls flat on that front. I expected either the visit to the professor or the interrogation of the flower shop lady (it makes sense in story) to result in a major twist or two, but they turned into more frustrating dead ends. The climactic ending happens off page, and it suffers from the fact that, because some of these characters are literal wolves, they don’t always have the same emotional impact as the human characters. There was a moment when I thought something happened to Chelle, and I thought that might be the real twist at the end, but it wasn’t. Instead, Mandy, a character who’s been mostly in the background, goes missing, but this fails to resonate. The big ending moment of the novel could’ve still happened (it’s teased throughout the story and isn’t terribly surprising), but there needed to be something more, action wise, to this ending. This ending is an example of how to write a strong story, deepen the mythology for the final sequel act, but then fail to actually build on anything at the end of this story itself; this wouldn’t be the first second act book to fall flat because it fails to grasp what the middle part of a story could and should do. When it came to Dace’s character and Arionna’s relationship with him, the stakes are raised for sure, but there needed to be more plot outside of this.

Random Thoughts:

Arionna cries a lot early on. Fair warning.
I can’t overstate how much I appreciated a character like Ronan in this story. It needed the levity of the Debbie Downer, and he delivered. Also, corvids are rad.
Like, seriously, guys, Ronan saves a bird, and it’s the sweetest scene in the book.
Did you ever want to read a story where flowers invoke horror? This is for you.
I personally support ketchup with scrambled eggs; if I lose all my followers/readers over this, then so be it.

Read if: You liked the first book and trust the author is going to deliver on all the delicious mythology she’s setting up. It kind of reminds me of Robin McKinley’s Pegasus in that way; you like the story, even if the ending of the book is anti-climactic and pissed you off.

Beware if: You want pay-off on the mystery front. This is not the book in this series that’s going to do that for you.

Rating: I can’t state enough how I wanted to like this book more, but the ending killed it for me. Something else needed to happen; it was too much set-up and too little pay off. This isn’t the first series I’ve read that’s done this, and it ticks me off every time. Sequels are hard, I know, but book two is where the ugly, miserable parts of your characters and weird, complex world-building can really shine. I am going to finish this series, but 3 stars for dropping the ball on the climax.

Writer’s Wednesdays: How to put a beat down on imposter syndrome

I feel like I’ve already talked God’s Play to death, even though it’s only in the middle of its blog tour! I’m very excited about it, but honestly, pre-publication, I had a lot of reservations if God’s Play deserved to be published (shhh…I know it’s called imposter’s syndrome). My day job, which I love, isn’t considered ‘creative’. What right did I have to write a publish a book? What kind of nonsense idea was this that I couldn’t give up?

How I feel whenever I present my work to anyone

That’s the key: I couldn’t give it up.

Obsession has a way of pulling you back in; there were times I thought this story was crap–that’s a ringing endorsement to buy the book, I’m sure. But the struggle was real. I rewrote scenes, only seeing the problems and feeling none of the love I initially had for the work. There’s a lot of evil in editing, and it’s a slog. But any good project is a struggle. It wouldn’t be a project worth doing if it were easy. That’s what I tell myself anyway, and it often feels like bullshit.

But back to God’s Play. The day I held the contract in my hands (or on my computer screen, as it were), I immediately leaped into the annals of the internet, searching for all the warning signs that I was signing a bad deal. Hahaha, yeah…don’t. This was A Mistake, maybe The Mistake. I’d written the book and sold it, and yet, I felt that I’d done some nebulous wrong thing. Did I screw up my career by going small press? There are people who would most certainly say ‘yes’ to this. But I knew I hadn’t sold the book to a vanity press but a legitimate small press. It didn’t help that I undertook my little research project around the time of the infamous Hydra scandal with SFWA.

Basically how I felt doing research on publishing

After sitting with the contract for weeks and combing over it, I realized the problem: I’d gone down the rabbit hole. I was in too far and too deep. So I approached it like data analysis. Objectively, there was nothing flag worthy about this contract. It’s a pretty standard small press contract, honestly, which ticked off all the boxes (especially concerning rights reversions). Business isn’t my strong suite, so I sent it to a lawyer friend and asked if they’d sign this. They recommended a couple changes in wording, but in general, the answer was ‘yes’.

And yet, I was still unsettled. I’d signed the contract, but I still didn’t feel like a writer. Hell, I felt more writerly when I was an unpublished n00b happily spewing out rough drafts that’ll never see the light of day. I had a professional team behind me! A cover artist! Even a marketer who actually responded to my emails! Why wasn’t I doing cart wheels? (Hint: some of this is because I was editing, which is a whole new can of worms for another week.)

Let’s circle back around to imposter syndrome. It’s pernicious, and being the stone-cold decision maker and high-achiever I am, I never thought I’d suffered from it. But life is sneaky like that. It wasn’t until a good friend told me that they thought I had a bad case of it did I stop and think, ‘Crap. They’re right. I’m in absolute denial about my young professional life.’ (I seriously can’t even type ‘young professional’ without smirking. That might be the stupidest noun cluster in modern English.)

-Lucille Bluth

So I dealt with imposter’s syndrome the same way I’d been living with it: I pretended it didn’t exist. (If believing in yourself fails, denial is a solid plan B.) If it’s not real, if it doesn’t effect me, then it can’t hurt me. Right? Sigh. I was still miserable, but I kept working and pretending that this thing would work itself out and that I hadn’t made some colossal mistake trying to be a real author.

Maybe this is where the story of Pinocchio comes from; he wants to be a real boy and misses the life lesson that he’s already real and loved. This was never a favorite story of mine growing up, and that’s probably why the lesson didn’t stick. There’s part of me that just wanted to say, ‘Get over yourself! You’re alive, right? And it’s rad to be not made of flesh because then you can’t fall and bleed everywhere!’ Yes, this is another example of colossally missing the point, and yes, I’m allergic to learning moral lessons.

Since God’s Play came out, I’ve been getting more comfortable with feeling that it’s a thing that exists in the world now. I’ve been excited to talk about it, but it took some warming up before I told most of my friends and family about it. There’s still an edge of doubt in the back of my mind.

Did I really do everything right? What did I miss?

Paranoia can go on forever and ever if I let it; this is why I get a lot of writing done at night, too, because paranoia is BFFs with insomnia, and if I’m going to stare at the ceiling anyway, I might as well be writing. This might be the most depressing pep talk on the internet, but for everyone out there who’s inundated with self-doubt, don’t give up. You can beat it down or at least trick yourself into ignoring it. Remember to laugh because that’s the best line of defense against paranoia and fear, too.

I’ll let Chvrches play you out.

God’s Play is a Featured New Release!

It’s also $0.99. In honor of writing what I consider a particularly bloody scene in my WIP today, I’m going to post another snippet from God’s Play that I considered a bit…gruesome. :)

“No sign of habitation. Bad tip, brother.” Henry shakes his head, still scanning with his flashlight. He turns to her and mouths one word. “Father.” My mum frowns, the shadowed creases in her forehead half-lit by the dual beams. Henry treads without so much as a shoe squeak towards the front of the store while Mum and I sweep out, moving like a single pair of headlights.

A door shuts. I jerk my head up. A thump from the back of the warehouse, and something crashes over. The woman shouts. There’s a gun shot. And then, another.

There’s more than one monster.

I pull the Bowie knife, and Henry sprints around a dresser. I turn to him, watching in time to see a wolf jump on his back . There’re no wolves this large― it’s a shape-shifter that’s slipped its human skin. The creature digs into his neck, and Henry’s arm twists around, stabbing it in the side. My knife sails through the air, but it whizzes past the monster’s hindquarter.

I drop the flashlight and pull out both knives. Henry’s light thuds on the carpet, rolling around like a top, illuminating the warehouse like an epileptic strobe light. Behind Henry’s attacker, there’s another pair of glittering eyes. My mother steps forward, throwing a knife at it. Hers connects, a sharp thud in the rib cage, and the creature charges, blood leaking from its side. It wheezes, stumbling like a drunk. She hit a lung― the wolf collapses before we need to bother fighting it again.

Her butterfly knife flits in her left hand, the big hunting knife poised in her right. The second pair of eyes gauges her, but this monster lurks behind a set of drawers. It slinks out of sight, and neither of us have a chance to strike it. One of the shifters growls and sprints across the carpet. It pounds down on me like a speeding train. I pivot, duck, and thrust upwards with my hunting knife . I connect with flesh, slitting the stomach when it leaps over me. The canine shifter staggers into a mattress column, howling with rage, splitting my ear drums.

Deafened, I can’t hear the other one attack. It flashes by, maybe some type of feline, pinning me underneath it . My mother screams. Claws dig into my chest, but I thrust upwards and kick it off like I’m launching from the gymnastics vault. My vision bursts into a thousand colors. I punch my knife hand into the feline, and the blade glints in the flashlight beam after each strike. The animal wheezes, and in its death spasms, falls down on top of me. I gasp under its weight, avoiding the last snaps of its jaw before it goes limp, but my eyes are still popping. The flashlight rolls, spinning the world in dollar store yellow lighting. I fumble for my Bowie knife, numb hand grasping chunks of cheap carpet. There’s a scuffle, and in the beam of light, on the other side of a stack of off-white mattresses, my mum is crouched. She only has her butterfly knife left, and she’s swinging it at the giant wolf approaching her. Its eyes glow like a hell hound’s. She backs up, and through neon color pops, I watch the wolf jump at her. She thrusts the knife into its throat.

Its breath gurgles as it dies, but I can’t see either my mother or the wolf over the mattresses now. The scent of blood floods the air like after a shark attack. It can’t be my mum’s― there’s too much of it. My heart is still beating, and it’s driving the bile up my throat. I’m rocking on one of those cheap county fair rides. The world tilts up and down, whirling me until the little cart breaks and goes flying through the cotton candy stands and into the parking lot.

A hand grasps the flashlight, pulling it off the floor, and turning the world dark. Footsteps crunch over the carpet. The soles are heavy, not practiced and light, so it’s not a hunter. I’m hearing through a tunnel now, so maybe I don’t know. The world is all neon lights and animal stench. Someone speaks, and I think it’s a man, but I can’t understand him. The voice is stretched like it’s in slow motion.

The footsteps come near me. A man leans down, and I look up into the face of a jackal.

When I lurch awake like a car with no brakes skidding on ice, I see a monster’s face― the jackal. It slips away, turning into the face of all the monsters I’ve hunted. But that’s a hallucination, and I slip back into nothingness. He’s carrying me― it feels like floating. The rain pours over him while he changes back to a man, but it smells like alcohol and the bitter sting of antiseptic.

Weekend Writing and Book Excerpt

Time flies, especially when I’m hustling to get things done. As usual, writing distracted me last night, but not the writing I was supposed to be doing; minds are finicky like that sometimes. So I’m up, bright and early, doing the work I’m supposed to be doing (and not getting donuts, but I’ve been craving cream filed donuts since last night, so today will probably begin and end at Dunks). To get ready for God’s Play’s two week blog tour, I’m gonna share an excerpt from the book! While I’m writing away, enjoy, and if you’re already bought and started reading the book, congratulations–you’re awesome.

My hands tingle, and my feet are numb. The barrier between my human form and my jackal form is dangerously thin. I push away from the bar, drop a tip, and walk into the drizzle. I don’t bother covering my head and press the paper to my chest like a talisman. I autopilot down to the bridge; it’s a metal serpent grown old and fat and beached across the river, and it can’t get up, can’t move. Below it, down along the wharf, huddles a neighborhood of slum warehouses.

I approach the address, the red-bricked front attached to the large, aluminum box. A gaudy sign sits in the window. From a narrow lane, I watch five figures appear out of the fog. They walk in a V formation like a flock of geese. Hunters. I’m a bit pissed for muscle-clenching fear, but I muster a cold sweat for them. I’m too young to remember the old wars― before the shape shifting, when the hunters banded together with an exploding human population to hunt us. It was pitchforks and torches. But it’s a lot more difficult to convince people that shifters are monsters. We look human most of the time. The hunters go to the warehouse and slip into the side door. I twitch my ears, but there are no shots or yells coming from inside that dump. Then, I see why. Another pack materializes in the mist. These five arrive from different directions, three padding on four legs, and the others stalking in on two legs like B movie horror monsters. They enter through loosened panels close to the ground and slide under like shadows. Fennis, the big wolf in the front, goes inside last.

It’s a nature documentary, except there’s nothing natural about it― monsters hunting hunters hunting monsters. I want to see the BBC cover it. I could be filming it right now― if I had a camera and some balls, I’d be famous. But I’m not close enough, so I go in for a better seat. I’m about to emerge from the alley when two of the beasts limp from the back door. I smell their blood, which makes my mouth water. One of them might make it, but the other staggers like a drunkard. I hope it’s Fennis. He deserves it, if only for drinking that shitty scotch before a hunt.

I let them pass and slide through the open back door. The inside reeks of blood, the sweet smell of death and food. I wire my jaw shut and hunch forward, using my enfeebled human nose. I sniff the first bodies in the back before seeing them. A beast and two hunters, all ripped to ribbons and stabbed with claws and metal. I pass over them, stepping on a gun. I kick it under a sofa and head towards a faint glow.

My boots squash on the carpet, and I try not to slip on the gore. There are two more downed creatures and an older man, lying on his stomach; his entrails reek, and I skirt away from him. I pick up the flashlight. A faint, wheezing gasp catches my attention.

Her hat sits crooked on her head, revealing the ginger hair beneath. Her skin is ashen grey. I look down at her, not wanting to get too close to the blade she clutches in her hand.

“It was a trap, didn’t you know,” I tell her. It’s all I can say, a weak eulogy. My little joke lands flat amid the blood pools and bodies.

She nods and mouths the word, ″Toby. Toby.”

I knit my brow. “Don’t know what that means, love.”

“My son. He… get him out,” she wheezes. The blood pumps from her side. She’ll be dead in minutes, but I get the message.

“Probably dead, too,” I tell her. She shakes her head, using her last breaths to insist her son is alive. Her brain churns to a stop― her eyes going blank and unfocused. A frown creases my face while I watch this warrior woman die. And she died like a warrior should― proud and strong in battle and not wasting from old age. If she knew what I was, she wouldn’t have hesitated to take a stab at me, so maybe it’s for the best. I was too chicken-shit scared to come and die in battle, but she wasn’t. So I honor her last wish and go looking for her son.

When I stand up, I scan the battlefield. There’s a faint rasping ―breathing and a heartbeat― someone struggling for air on my left, gasping in a way that suggests they’re not about to die. I walk over to the dead feline. I roll away the carcass to get at the human body underneath.

And then an iron-fingered grip clutches my ankle, nails digging into the skin above my sock. Every cell of my flesh convulses with a thousand itches, which shoot up my body like rug burn. My skin becomes raw like it’s covered in bug bites. I’ve felt this before, but not for a long time. I stagger, twist my leg, and tug away, pulling deep breaths into my lungs, breaking off contact with the hand. But it’s too late― I’m covered in ebony fur, and I convulse in my clothes, unable to even curse while my face reshapes itself.

I stagger backwards. The damage is done. My hands sport matching sets of two inch black claws, and I’m staring down a canine snout― the one for my jackal face. My real face. The air is alive with blood; when my senses expand, it crashes over me, trying to pull me under and drop me in a rip tide. I’m salivating― I need to run, but there’s the boy, hidden beneath the dead feline. He’s attached to that cursed hand gripping my ankle. He lifted the Veil, the protection that keeps me hidden in my human shape.

That little bastard. I’m just lucky my jackal shape is of the anatomically incorrect bipedal monster variety.

Even when I yank my leg from his grasp, I don’t shift back. Not that I expected to. My heightened senses are awash in the delicious scent of blood and fresh meat. I have to get out of here. I grab a large drape, wrap it around the boy, and carry him away. When I leave, even my animal hearing can’t find another breath in the entire warehouse.

Read more inside the cover.

Cover Reveal: The Union

The Union by T.H. Hernandez

Today we have a cover reveal for T. H. Hernandez, and it has this V for Vendetta aesthetic that I like. Check it out—and make sure to read the excerpt, too.

Title: The Union

Author: T.H. Hernandez

Release Day: November 18, 2014

Synopsis

After global warming and a second civil war devastated the former United States, two different societies rose from the ashes – the Union, a towering high-tech utopia, hugging the perimeter of the continent, and the devastated, untamed midsection known as the Ruins.

Seventeen-year-old Evan Taylor has an easy, privileged life in the Union. What she doesn’t have is any idea what to do with the rest of her life. She only knows she wants to do something meaningful, to make a difference in the lives of others.

When she’s kidnapped and taken into the Ruins as a pawn in a dispute involving her boyfriend, Bryce, her ideal world is turned upside down. What she learns while in the Ruins shakes her faith in everything she’s ever known, from Bryce, to her family, and even the Union itself.

Now Evan must choose whether to stay with Cyrus, the sexy, resourceful survivor who believes she’s in the Ruins for a reason, or return to the only life she’s ever known. But when she stumbles upon a dangerous plot that threatens both worlds, her decision could tear her apart.

Novel Goodreads

Author Bio:

When not visiting the imaginary worlds inside my head, I live in San Diego, California, with one husband, three children, two cats, and one dog. In addition to my day job as a technical writer and editor, I write young adult fiction. I love the intensity of teen emotions and the way they’re still figuring out life.

When I’m not writing, you can find me with my nose in a book, hanging out with family and friends, hiking, or knitting. I’m obsessed with Facebook, young adult novels, bad lip reading videos, pumpkin spice lattes, microbrewed beers, and the San Diego Chargers.

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Exclusive Excerpt

Once the sun rises, I can make out trees in the distance. Real trees with leaves, which means there must be water nearby. I’m not sure Ruins water is safe to drink, but I do know I’ll die if I don’t drink something.

Even though I’ve been walking for hours, the trees don’t seem to be getting any closer. My legs have taken on a sponge-like quality and I stumble, but manage to stay upright. If I fall, I may never get up again.

I’m almost to the trees. They’re only a little farther now.

There’s no water here. How can there be trees without water?

Despair overtakes me and I drop down, pounding my fists on the barren ground. I stuff a soft green leaf in my mouth, seeking moisture, but my mouth is so dry, I gag on the pieces, tearing my throat like shards of broken glass.

My head spins as I lie on my back and struggle to form coherent thoughts. I take a deep breath and tell myself to think. Think is such a strange word. Think, think, think. It doesn’t even sound English.

Shaking my head to clear my mind, I try to pull myself together, remembering where I am and forcing myself to focus on my immediate situation. What do the Buddhists call it? Being mindful.

My brain works to form rational thoughts, but there’s nothing rational about this. I left home to find my place in the world, is this really where my search was supposed to lead me? It’s more like a cruel joke. If I was on a date with destiny, it just took a bizarre turn into a twisted ending I never saw coming.

God, if only I hadn’t gone to the park that night, none of this would’ve happened. I begin to cry. For my family and friends who will never know what happened to me, and for me. I’m not ready to die, I’m only 17.

I can’t help wondering if I would have spent so much time agonizing over my future if I’d known I’d be dead so soon. If I’d known, maybe I’d have done everything differently. Now I know my future. My life ends here. Alone. In the Ruins.

Book review: Catch Me When I Fall

Catch Me When I Fall by Vicki Leigh

Daniel is a 200 year old Protector, people who spend their afterlife protecting humans from Nightmares, which are creatures who invade people’s minds and make them go insane. Daniel’s job is a Catcher, someone who stops the Nightmares, and he partners with other Catchers and at least one Weaver, whose job it is to bring humans dreams. When Daniel is assigned to protect Kayla, a sixteen year-old girl in a mental institution, he knows he’ll have his work cut out for him—and this goes double when, during his first night on duty, Kayla is attacked by six Nightmares at once. The race is one to find out why Kayla is a special target, but the more Daniel digs into Kayla’s history, the more he finds himself attracted to her.

For the most part, I really liked Daniel’s character, and he was the right choice as the focus on this story. His personality and the world-building is established immediately, and there’s a lot of history between Daniel, Seth, Sam, and Tabbi that is hinted at; I got the impression that these were people who’d been friends for a long time. They shared stories, had that easy lingo that exists among friends, and it simply made them human. These characters are also funny, which is a huge plus for me in a paranormal book. Some of the older characters like Giovanni, Bartholomew, and Trishna aren’t as fleshed out, but they don’t have to be; they serve their given roles well.

But if you don’t like Kayla, this book might not work for you because the stakes of the story are tied up in Kayla, her past, and her budding relationship with Daniel. I personally found Daniel and Kayla’s relationship to be freaking cute, and they share a lot or realistic couple moments. Kayla is the catalyst that raises Daniel’s mission from ‘everyday business’ into ‘life-threatening weirdness.’ Kayla, as a character, worked best for me early on the in the novel when she was institutionalized. After she leaves the hospital, I never felt she grew much as a character, even as her relationship with Daniel progressed. In the end, Kayla was supposed to have a connection to the antagonist that felt hollow for me, which is a shame because it did weaken the finale of the story.

This gets to the larger plot issue in this book: the ending didn’t feel like it had the emotional weight it needed to have. Maybe it happens too quickly or the bonds between various characters never materialized, but the villains ended up feeling weak. There should seriously be an emotionally strong reaction to the climax of this story, but it just rang a bit hollow for me. The ideas are there, and the protagonists are fleshed out, but there’s never a moment when I believed Kayla would go ‘dark side’; it just wasn’t a plot that was set up, and nothing in her character up until that point indicated it would be. Daniel’s battle with the surprise villain of the story also should’ve carried more weight, but there was never a moment where I felt Daniel cared for this character as a person, so the betrayal at the end didn’t register anything more than a superficial reaction.

That said, there are some great twists and battles building up until the finale that are satisfying; Daniel and Kayla face off against a wraith, which really gets the plot rolling. There’s a great feud between Daniel, Seth, and Ivan early on in the novel as well that establishes that everything might not be sing-alongs and hand-holding circles in Protector manor; they’re the good guys, sure, but not all of them are good people. There are copious fights against Nightmares and the witches and warlocks use powerful magic throughout the story, too. Kayla’s flashback showing how she was put in the mental institution is intensely real, and I loathed the way her mother treated her after the incident; that entire scenario felt so real to me.

There’s a lot of good character work with the protagonists in this novel. They’re funny, they’re grounded in an interesting world, and the main protagonists feel unique. The initial plot and premise was very interesting, and it kept me wanting more. However, the plot did fall apart near the end, and the emotional stakes between protagonist and antagonist didn’t quite reach the level they needed to for this story to deliver on its strengths.

Random Thoughts:

“Lasso my heart” was a very beautiful line—one of the best ways I’ve seen a budding romance described recently
I would read a novella about Seth’s antics with the Pope.
The Veronica Mars dream would’ve been so worth having nightmares for.
Daniel’s crack about girls liking to shop made me dislike him for a while. Seriously, dude? You’ve been a live 200 years, and that’s what you take away from your time watching women? It’s a joke, but still—UGH.
I wanted more Ivan and Nolan because they’re both sardonic a-holes, which are my types of characters.

Read if: You want a paranormal romance with a strong, male romantic lead who doesn’t read poetry or swoon. The relationship in this story is seriously cute but not sappy.

Beware if: You want a story with interesting villains. This story doesn’t have one, unfortunately, even though it has plenty of supernatural monsters.

My rating: 4 stars because Daniel was the main character and the world building is strong, but the villians let me down.

Book review: Dead Iron

Dead Iron by Devon Monk

I couldn’t stop thinking about this book; I read it really quickly, knew I liked the writing style, but I was unsure how I felt about the overall story, and then it took a full 48 hours to sink in—this book was flipping great. The writing is snappy, the story is fast-paced, and the characters are all fleshed out, and I felt like I knew them all instantly.

Cedar Hunt is a hunter with a curse and an equally tragic past sans curse; he plays the trope of the Iron Woobie straight, and that’s fine because the character’s written well here. Rose Smalls, Shard LeFel, and Mae Lindstron flesh out the four main characters, and all of them have significant plot in this book. Mae is a witch whose husband Jeb has gone missing, and she fears he’s dead (she’s partially right). Rose is a town girl with a head for mechanics (it is Steampunk, after all), some magical energy about her, and a personality that’s too big for a town obsessed with marrying off daughters at 16. Shard LeFel is an evil son-of-a-bitch, and he’s the main antagonist in the novel.

The plot revolves around LeFel wanting to go back to his magical other realm; he’s 300 years old, and his time on earth is up. If he doesn’t get back, he dies. LeFel is being pursued by the Madder brothers, three ‘men’ who are also long-lived beings (the aspect of what they are is unclear to me, although my guess would be something akin to fae). The big plot is about LeFel trying to get back home, which involves three sacrifices and a MacGuffin. But let’s not dwell too much on the overall plot, which sometimes feels like a sideshow to the journeys Mae, Cedar, Jeb, and Rose go on; this isn’t a dig on the main plot—it’s an electric ride with plenty of scares—but I cared about the character’s personal journeys a lot more than the main plot. This may bother some people, but the characters were awesome and kept me wanting to read more.

There’s many layers to this book, which is impressive considering how much of the plot I’ve written about in this review already. But there’s so much more–maybe too much for some, but the plethora of ideas and depth of world-building always is subserviant to the characters and their arcs. From early in the book, I guessed how it might end, and while there were no real surprises for me, the final confrontation was satisfying. The emotional moments in this book may not register for those who don’t like gritty Westerns, but I think that element elevated this story for me.

The part of the book that wore on me the most was aspects of the steam punk world. I get it, steam punk is atmospheric, and gadgets are nifty, but sometimes the action and horror get bogged down in what all the devices look like. Also, we’ve seen a hot air balloon before, so introducing one in-world as if it’s very novel just doesn’t build to the same level as, say, the three sacrifices moment it’s juxtaposed against.

I know I love a book when I find myself shouting at the pages or computer screen; I did that several times during this book. The characters are all well-done versions of their respective tropes, so while I didn’t find any of them surprising (there is a sequel…), I found them all interesting. The world building is there, but the main thing you need to know is that it’s a Western Steampunk with paranormal elements. The plot never slows down and is unusually straight forward for urban fantasy (seriously, you know 95% of what you need to know for the plot by chapter 3), so the story utilizes the dramatic tension of knowing LeFel has the prisoners juxtaposed against Cedar, Mae, Rose, and Jeb’s problems to solve their respective missions. In a less skilled hand, this might’ve failed spectacularly to create tension, but the characters are well crafted. What I’m saying is read it to find out for yourself.

Random Thoughts:

I seriously kept waiting for this book to take a True Blood turn in the relationship department. Monk restrains herself (that’s what sequels are for).
LeFel and Mr. Shunt are nasty villians. Seriously surprised LeFel didn’t twirl a mustache at some point.
Rose might seem a bit useless, but she’s clearly in here for sequel bait.

Read if: you’re an urban fantasy fan that wished True Grit (the remake) should’ve included some werewolves.

Beware if: you have a low tolerance for steam punk mixed into your urban fantasy. Also, if you like romance, this book isn’t for you.

My rating: 5 stars for having a full story, teasing the sequel, and being unable to get off my brain.

4 for Friday Blitz! Free Books by great authors

4 for Friday Blitz – Presented by Month9Books with Giveaway

(Disclosure: Month9Books is not my publisher; I’m a member of their chapter by chapter team of reviewers. I like their titles, though, and plan on reviewing all of these in the future.)

Welcome to the 4 for Friday Blitz for Crown of Ice by Vicki L. Weavil, Fire in the Woods by Jennifer M. Eaton, Avian by Nicole Conway, and Branded by Abi Ketner and Missy Kalicicki, presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post.

Thyra Winther’s seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can’t reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she’s doomed to spend eternity as a wraith.

Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal.

A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai’s childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra’s willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts — to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup’s devotion and the fire of a young man’s desire, the thawing of Thyra’s frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.

CROWN OF ICE is a YA Fantasy that reinvents Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” from the perspective of a young woman who discovers that the greatest threat to her survival may be her own humanity.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Chapters Indigo! | TBD | iBooks

Vicki Lemp Weavil was raised in a farming community in Virginia, where her life was shaped by a wonderful family, the culture of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and an obsession with reading. Since obtaining her undergraduate degree in Theatre from the University of Virginia, she’s gone on to acquire two masters degrees, living in places as diverse as New York City and rural North Carolina. She’s currently the library director for a performing an visual arts university. Vicki loves good writing in any genre, and has been known to read seven books in as many days. She enjoys travel, gardening, and the arts. Vicki lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and some very spoiled cats.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumbler

When a plane crashes in the woods near Jess’s home, the boy of her dreams falls out of the sky—literally. But David’s not here to find a girlfriend. He’s from another planet, and if Jess can’t help him get back to his ship, he’ll be stuck on Earth with nothing to look forward to but the pointy end of a dissection scalpel.

But her father runs their house like an army barracks, and with an alien on the loose, Major Dad isn’t too keen on the idea of Jess going anywhere. Ever. So how the heck is she supposed to help the sweetest, strangest, and cutest guy she’s ever met?

Hiding him in her room probably isn’t the best idea. Especially since her Dad is in charge of the squadron searching for David. That doesn’t mean she won’t do it. It just means she can’t get caught.

Helping David get home while protecting her heart—that’s gonna be the hard part. After all, she can’t really fall for a guy who’s not exactly from here.

As they race through the woods with Major Dad and most of the U.S. military one breath behind them, Jess and David grow closer than either of them anticipated. But all is not what it seems. David has a genocide-sized secret, and one betrayal later, they are both in handcuffs as alien warships are positioning themselves around the globe. Time is ticking down to Armageddon, and Jess must think fast if she’s to save the boy she cares about without sacrificing Earth—and everyone on it.

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Corporate Team Leader by day, and Ranting Writer by night. Jennifer M. Eaton calls the East Coast of the USA home, where she lives with her husband, three energetic boys, and a pepped up poodle.

Jennifer hosts an informational blog “A Reference of Writing Rants for Writers (or Learn from My Mistakes)” aimed at helping all writers be the best they can be.

Beyond writing and motivating others, she also enjoys teaching her dog to jump through hoops—literally.

Jennifer’s perfect day includes long hikes in the woods, bicycling, swimming, snorkeling, and snuggling up by the fire with a great book; but her greatest joy is using her over-active imagination constructively… creating new worlds for everyone to enjoy.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

What kind of power is lurking inside him?

After a year of training to become a dragonrider, Jaevid Broadfeather has been sent home to rest during a three-month interlude. But when he returns to find the king drake has chosen Beckah Derrick as his new rider, Jaevid realizes something big is about to happen. Every fiber of his being is pushed to the breaking point as Jaevid battles through his avian year, preparing for the final graduation test of the battle scenario. But there is more standing in his way than a few pushups and fancy sword moves.

Jaevid must face a new fear as he is tormented by a gruesome nightmare of a mysterious gray elf warrior murdering the royal family of Maldobar. It seems obvious to him that this is some kind of message about how the war started long ago—until Felix assures him the king is very much alive. With his strange powers growing stronger by the day, and that violent dream replaying in his mind every night, Jaevid no longer wonders if he will pass his avian year or not . . . he wonders if he will even survive it.

The truth will soon be set loose.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Chapters Indigo! | TBD | IndieBound | iBooks

Nicole is the author of the children’s fantasy series, THE DRAGONRIDER CHRONICLES, about a young boy’s journey into manhood as he trains to become a dragonrider. She has completed the first two books in the series, and is now working on the third and final book.

Originally from a small town in North Alabama, Nicole moves frequently due to her husband’s career as a pilot for the United States Air Force. She received a B.A. in English with a concentration in Classics from Auburn University, and will soon attend graduate school.

She has previously worked as a freelance and graphic artist for promotional companies, but has now embraced writing as a full-time occupation.

Nicole enjoys hiking, camping, shopping, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends. She also loves watching children’s movies and collecting books. She lives at home with her husband, two cats, and dog.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Fifty years ago The Commander came into power and murdered all who opposed him. In his warped mind, the seven deadly sins were the downfall of society.

To punish the guilty, he created the Hole, a place where sinners are branded according to their sins. Sinners are forced to live a less than human existence in deplorable conditions, under the watchful eye of guards who are ready to kill anyone who steps out of line.

Now, LUST wraps around my neck like thick, blue fingers, threatening to choke the life out of me. I’ve been accused of a crime I didn’t commit, and the Hole is my new home.

Constant darkness.

Brutal and savage violence.

Excruciating pain.

Every day is a fight for survival.

But I won’t let them win. I will not die in the Hole.

I am more than my brand. I’m a fighter. My name is Lexi Hamilton, and this is my story.

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Abi and Missy met in the summer of 1999 at college orientation and have been best friends ever since. After college, they added jobs, husbands and kids to their lives, but they still found time for their friendship. Instead of hanging out on weekends, they went to dinner once a month and reviewed books. What started out as an enjoyable hobby has now become an incredible adventure.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumbler

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Book Review: We Are All Completely Fine

We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory

Goodreads Review

Five survivors of supernatural trauma are coerced by their psychiatrist into joining a unique support group. If the premise of monster therapy sounds interesting to you, read on. Harrison is a twenty-something ex-monster hunter who’s less devil-may-care than he initially appears. Stan is an amputee from cannibalism, who’s in love with being a victim. Barbara encountered the mysterious Scrimshander, who carved something into her literal bones. Martin is an RPG obsessed guy who begins seeing Dwellers, creatures from the other side, and Greta is…well, she’s a girl with a secret, and initially seems like the key to why they’re all gathered together. The book is an extended character study on the trauma the Last Boy or Last Girl that defeats or survives the monsters undergoes. To be a hero means being a survivor, with all the PTSD that entails.

The styling of each chapter changes subtly to match each of the character’s personalities. Harrison’s chapters are sharper, more to the point; Barbara’s sections are more lyrical. Stan is annoying, but this is intentional. Martin’s reveal starts out a bit lame, but it’s turned into something deeper, and it’s after Martin’s reveal that I really began to trust this book, believe in its story. The book does start out tedious, but it begins to pay off. At first, Greta is used as more of a plot device than an actual character, but this changes as well; no character in this book is used solely for their backstory. Rather, the backstories build to enhance the relationships between the various characters, including the psychiatrist, Jan. It’s not a superhero team up, so don’t go into this book expecting that, but the character’s relate in ways that are more authentic, even if that means they’re not heroic. In many ways, this book subverts and challenges what it means to be a hero (seriously, there’s a fantastic Campell shout out in here).

My issue with literary fantasy is that it’s always a little thin on plot, and that’s true for We Are All Completely Fine. The first two-thirds of the book deal with the characters and their reluctance (or in Stan’s case, overenthusiasm) to share their trauma stories; there’s meeting after meeting, which is interwoven with each character focusing on their personal lives. It’s only when you get inside each character’s perspective that you begin to understand how damaged each character really is and what they’re hiding, even from themselves. If you find yourself disliking any of the characters intensely (excpet Stan, but I figured this was intentional), then you probably won’t like how the book develops. I enjoyed this book because I was invested in all of the characters, and if that hadn’t been the case, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it the same way.

While investigating each character’s background, the pieces of a mystery are subtly put into place. It’s so deftly done that I didn’t realize I had been reading a mystery until near the very end. This elevated a lot of what could’ve been interpreted as meandering navel gazing into a deeper, more fully formed story. When the story ended, I found I didn’t want it to end, which is the sign of reading something sublime.

Random Thoughts:

The description of the cannibals and what the Scrimshander did are truly nauseating. It’s not in your face gore, but it’s absolutely gruesome.
This is a great example of how horror can be psychological; there is something subtly terrifying about this book that doesn’t sink in immediately.
One of my first notes was how I hoped a certain character would become important, and I was absolutely rewarded. This book is satisfying in how it links disparate elements together.
The supernatural elements don’t actually begin to appear in present day until almost half-way through the book; the first half of this book was a bit tedious.
Seriously, the Campbell shout out is gold.

Read if: You like your fantasy with a literary bend. This reminded me, in the best way possible, of the character exploration done in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. This book is magical realism, where the fantasy elements are integrated into the real world in a way where you’re not sure if they’re fantastical or real until near the end.

Beware if: You like an action-packed read. This book is not heavy on action or in-your-face magic.

Rating: 4 stars because the character building and backstories pay off in interesting, if not entirely surprising, ways.