K.D. Dowdall

I recently did a book giveaway, completed on March 15th, but I haven't been given the addresses to send the two print versions of my book yet, to the winners of Garrett's Bones by K. D. Dowdall. Thank you, Karen

A Review by Karen DeMers Dowdall

The dystopia novel, The Starling, is an exceptionally exciting foray into a world, our world; that may exist in the future. The author, Kathy Lauren Miller, uses real scientific possibilities that are actually on the drawing board of technological advances as we speak. She carefully crafts two characters, like Jamie, a young girl in an emotional crisis and, by a twist of fate, is transported through time to earth’s dystopian future where humans are dominated by a malevolent AI and various degrees of terrifying humanoids. Jamie is used as bait to draw out free humans who live like Outliers on the hidden fringes of society. A secret alliance inside this dystopian world alters the internal program of a guardian humanoid, Quinn, sent to watch Jamie. What happens between them creates in its path a different way of thinking and hope for the future. I highly recommend this intensely satisfying novel of dystopia.

The Girl in the Woods
Gregg Olsen knows how to write a thrilling murder mystery with intriguing characters, twists and turns down the old primrose lane of suspense, fear, and the quest to figure out who the murderer is. The female protagonist in The Girl in the Woods, is a strong, sure-footed forensic pathologist called Birdy Waterman. Birdy is naive and tends to imagine good or bad qualities in her suspects that just aren’t there. Nonetheless, this is an admirable quality that Birdy has and makes her a relatable character that you will get to know very well. You will know Birdy very well, in fact, because it is who she is with all her emotions and fears that mirror your own. The realism is there and you are there in the moment, looking over Birdy Waterman’s shoulder as she finds the killer. I highly recommend this excellent murder mystery.

Glynnis CampbellThe Outcast

I just finished reading, The Outcast by Glynnis Campbell. It is a charming novella about a crippled medieval knight who doesn't want to live and a girl, an accused witch being hunted by the town's people. This romantic novella is an engaging character study that has lots of surprises in store for the reader.

Fairy tales were not my escape from reality as a child; rather, they were my reality -- for mine was a world in which good and evil were not abstract concepts, and like fairy-tale heroines, no magic would save me unless I had the wit and heart and courage to use it widely.”
― Terri Windling