"24 Bones" - Michael F. Stewart (Tribute Books Blog Tour)

BLURB
Every five hundred years the phoenix dies.

Samiya, born-into-shadow, is soon to battle her born-into-light brother. Abandoned by their parents, neither wishes to play the preordained role of beast and hero. When their loved ones are taken hostage, they are forced to follow the path laid out in myth, culminating in a battle first fought six thousand years ago in ancient Cairo. A mythic clash where one defeats the other and both become gods.

To break free from their fates, Samiya and her brother must unravel a mystery twisted by cults, greed, and magic. But myth is a powerful force and failure to live up to it may not only destroy their lives but the lives of the ones they love most.

When the phoenix dies, the only certainty is flames.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After crewing ships in the Antarctic and the Baltic Sea and some fun in venture capital, Michael anchored himself (happily) to a marriage and a boatload of kids. Now he injects his adventurous spirit into his writing with brief respites for research into the jungles of Sumatra and Guatemala, the ruins of Egypt and Tik’al, paddling the Zambezi and diving whatever cave or ocean reef will have him. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers and SF Canada, and the author of the Assured Destruction series, 24 Bones, The Sand Dragon, Hurakan, Ruination and several award winning graphic novels for young adults.

REVIEW

My husband and brother are both fairly well steeped in Egyptian mythology.  My brother spent hours when we were young trying to decipher hieroglyphs in books that we got from school, and my husband is generally interested in any and all mythology.  While I've not had as intense a curiousity about such, I've absorbed some knowledge about Egyptian mythology simply from being around the nerdy males in my life. This work deals heavily with Egyptian mythology come to life in modern times, and draws parallels between Egyptian myth and one of my favorite books - The Bible - in ways that I didn't expect.  Hmmmm.

"A Privilege - The Angel Chronicles: Book 3" - Amy Lignor (Tribute Books Blog Tour)

BLURB

"The beloved Angel/Warrior team face pure evil in their final climactic story!

The first time they were sent down, Irish lives were led. Emily, the angel, ended up embedded in murder and lost in the realm of true love. While Matthew, the warrior, took over a life that left blood on his hands and anger in his soul. 

With their second coming, Emily found herself facing an oncoming war that brought her to the shores of America. While Matthew tried desperately to unveil the evil character of a young man who was intent on locking his partner in a ‘gilded’ cage. 

Now...Emily and Matthew find that their lives are all their own. Yet, all the memories, hatred, longing and regret have come hand-in-hand with this newfound freedom. 

In small town U.S.A., Matthew finds himself loving his new life. From his military school existence to a new, ‘odd’ friend who’s arrived in town, Matthew’s looking forward to graduation and heading off into a brilliant future with Emily by his side.

Emily wants nothing more than to hide. Although doing her best to fit in, she lives a life on the edge, wondering when her past love with reappear to either forgive or seek revenge on the angel who let him down. Battling the shadows that seem to be breaking her soul in two, Emily soon discovers that her small, quiet town has a secret that’s beyond dangerous...

As she and Matthew join forces to help a ‘haunted’ victim, they open the door on a mystery neither of them can believe. A true villain has returned from the past, and not even their heavenly family will be able to save them. This time they’re on their own, as they face a fight that could lead them straight to Hell…and end the angel/warrior team forever."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.

Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.

She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.

Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico.

REVIEW

In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm a person of the Christian faith.  I also happen to enjoy thinking about what might "not" be in the Bible.  Something that has been blatantly overlooked in that sacred document?  Interactions between angels.  I enjoy thinking about how the different angels interact with one another and with God.  Does training happen?  What does it look like? How do they interact when they are not busy with people?  Are they ever not busy with people?  This book is not attempting to be a theological perspective on the matter, but does provide one way to think about angelic interaction.

"The Cryptid Tales" by Brina Courtney (Rockstar Book Tour)

 BLURB
"You think seeing ghosts is weird? Tell me something I don't know.

My childhood best friend Jeremy happens to be a ghost.

My life is a puzzle, and the biggest piece missing has been my dad. Since his disappearance when I was six it's been tough, but Jeremy has been by my side through it all.

But now Jeremy has gone missing too and I feel like I'm never going to get all the answers I've been looking for.

Fate intervenes when Hugh, a real live college beefcake, starts taking an interest in me. He divulges that he also shares my little "gift" of seeing the dead and I know I'm finally getting closer to finding all the pieces.

However, the more the puzzle is completed, the more questions I have.

Senior year is hard enough as it is, but clearly I like a challenge."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Brina Courtney

Brina Courtney is a young adult author obsessed with chocolate, crime shows, and fantasy movies. She's spent the last few years as an elementary teacher and a high school cheering coach. She lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband and two very loud, small dogs.

Website                    Facebook 

Twitter                     Goodreads 

REVIEW
This is the first paranormal book reviewed on this here, my blog.  Paranormal works make me nervous for various reasons that I don't feel like going into but will if you send me an email (elnora dot romness at gmail dot com).  For one thing, I'm easily spooked and already have an overactive imagination regarding piles of clothes on my floor in the middle of the night, or the goofy dog making me think something is burrowing its way through the floor when he scratches an itch...of course in the middle of the night.  But I digress...

"Assured Destruction" - by Michael Stewart (Tribute Books Blog Tour)

BLURB
"Sixteen-year-old Jan Rose knows that nothing is ever truly deleted. At least, not from the hard drives she scours to create the online identities she calls the Shadownet.

Hobby? Art form? Sad, pathetic plea to garner friendship, even virtually? Sure, Jan is guilty on all counts. Maybe she’s even addicted to it. It’s an exploration. Everyone has something to hide. The Shadownet’s hard drives are Jan’s secrets. They're stolen from her family’s computer recycling business Assured Destruction. If the police found out, Jan’s family would lose their livelihood. 

When the real people behind Shadownet’s hard drives endure vicious cyber attacks, Jan realizes she is responsible. She doesn’t know who is targeting these people or why but as her life collapses Jan must use all her tech savvy to bring the perpetrators to justice before she becomes the next victim."




ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Michael Stewart

After crewing ships in the Antarctic and the Baltic Sea and some fun in venture capital, Michael anchored himself (happily) to a marriage and a boatload of kids. Now he injects his adventurous spirit into his writing with brief respites for research into the jungles of Sumatra and Guatemala, the ruins of Egypt and Tik’al, paddling the Zambezi and diving whatever cave or ocean reef will have him. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers and SF Canada, and the author of the Assured Destruction series, 24 Bones, The Sand Dragon, Hurakan, Ruination and several award winning graphic novels for young adults.


REVIEW
I know very little about computers.  Being able to utilize basic Microsoft programs, game a little, cuss Excel into cooperating with me, minor photo editing...I'd quickly be swamped by the genius of Jan - the main character in Assured Destruction.  But what happens when someone's genius gets the better of them...or those around them....

"Untimed" - by Andy Gavin (Tribute Books blog tour)

BLURB
"Charlie’s the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, even his own mother can’t remember his name. And girls? The invisible man gets more dates.

As if that weren’t enough, when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t take him seriously.

Still, this isn’t all bad. In fact, there’s this girl, another time traveler, who not only remembers his name, but might even l!ike him! Unfortunately, Yvaine carries more than her share of baggage: like a baby boy and at least two ex-boyfriends! One’s famous, the other’s murderous, and Charlie doesn’t know who is the bigger problem.

When one kills the other — and the other is nineteen year-old Ben Franklin — things get really crazy. Can their relationship survive? Can the future? Charlie and Yvaine are time travelers, they can fix this — theoretically — but the rules are complicated and the stakes are history as we know it. And there's one more wrinkle: he can only travel into the past, and she can only travel into the future."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"Andy Gavin is a serial creative, polymath, novelist, entrepreneur, computer programmer, author, foodie, and video game creator. He co-founded video game developer Naughty Dog and co-created Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He started numerous companies, has been lead programmer on video games that have sold more than forty million copies, and has written two novels.

His first book, The Darkening Dream, has been well-received by fans and critics alike. Publisher’s Weekly called it “gorgeously creepy, strangely humorous, and sincerely terrifying.” Untimed is an even more ambitious follow-up. It is a lavish production with a cover by acclaimed fantasy artist Cliff Nielsen and twenty-one full page interior illustrations by Dave Phillips."

REVIEW
Time-travel as a topic has fascinated people for eons.  We have all likely been asked the question "if you could go back in time, what/who/when/where..." and who hasn't wanted to jump into the future to finally take a spin on a flying car or find food that is ultimately satisfying and sans calories?  Personally, some have told me that I was born in the wrong decade and should have been alive 60 years ago because I love to cook and clean.  We are obsessed as a culture with time.  But what if we could actually jump back and forth, with limitations, of course...

The Good
While our culture may have a slight obsession with time, books that include elements of time travel always make me nervous.  Maybe it is because as a Trekkie and Stargate fan, I have a deep respect for the "temporal directive" (i.e. observe and don't change, and do not under any circumstances tell people in one time details about another time).  Maybe it is because I know just enough about physics to get myself into a confusing whirlwind of trouble when I try to figure out the physics behind the mere possibility of time travel.  Maybe it is because I've seen time travel as a hookey side effect in too many cheesy movies.  I'll admit, when I first read the blurb for this book, I was nervous that it was going to suck.

I was very pleasantly surprised.  

First, Gavin had created a work that takes pity on a reader who knows about as much about time travel as about how many hairs are on a monkey's uncle.  Readers are not thrown into a world where time travel is the norm and everyone knows what is going on, not to mention everyone knows the rules for such.  Nope, we get to struggle right alongside our hero - Charlie - as he tries to figure out just what the he - double hockey sticks is going on when he discovers that no one knows who he is because he is just slightly out of phase.  There are not long pages devoted to detailing exactly how it happens.  Our knowledge about time travel and its rules as defined in this world grows right alongside that of Charlie and at a realistic rate.  We learn slowly, through vicariously experiencing some trial and error as Charlie makes a mess of temporal reality while meaning well and, meaning just as well, attempts to take a temporal broom to the mess...all the while being head over knickers for a girl whom agents operating just out of phase with time have thrown into his path.  But enough...or I'll have to go back in time a few minutes and slap myself for spoiling the plot.  This plot should not be spoiled.  You should read the book.  'Nuff said?

Nope.  

Second, I like sarcasm.  I like the "well spit on a shingle and call me your fiddle dee dee" kind of humor (that phrase may only make sense in my head).  Sarcastic humor often makes one laugh because it is funny in a "we've all been there" kind of way.  Who hasn't been absolutely chagrined at their plan being foiled?  Sarcastic humor contains those snarky thoughts that we all have but few express.  (Aside: just where does the phrase "bite me" come from?  It has never made sense that one would wish another to inflict physical harm.  Translation problem?  And now, back to our regularly scheduled post (I'm feeling a bit snarky tonight myself, can you tell?))  This book is filled with a fabulous dose of snarky/sarcastic humor. Perhaps it is due to the fact that it is from the perspective of a teenage boy - as anyone who has ever worked with that population can tell you, this population is filled with sarcastic snarkiness - and this author has been a teenage boy.  All I know is that it works well here and made me smile a few times...maybe not actually LOL, but certainly smile.  :)  See?  

Third, story: a sign of a good book in my book (see, snarky today...sorryish) is that before finishing the work, I'll ponder it and how the story could work.  I wonder what will happen next.  I want to get back to reading it as soon as my son goes to sleep.  That is how it was with this book.  I wanted to get back into it so that I could know what was going on, so the next little bit of explanation for what was happening could reveal itself, so I could see if Charlie and Yvaine just kiss already!  The plot moves forward at a pretty quick clip, never allowing readers to settle in one place for too long...the main characters would die if they were in one place for too long, the Tocks would find them (Curious?  Read the book!).  While it does feel a little hurried in a few places, it works. 

What about the characters?  They stay true to themselves, which if you've read my previous posts you know I appreciate.  Yvaine has a baby boy (oh hush, I didn't ruin too much - you discover this fairly soon in the book), and as a new mother with a baby boy, I gravitated towards Yvaine more so than perhaps I would have otherwise.  Her thoughts, feelings, and actions regarding her son throughout the book simultaneously elated and pained me as a mother.  I ached for her when she ached regarding her baby boy.  Let's just say this made me want to bear hug my little guy for days. Anyways...

Let's see, what else...this is a thrilling adventure story that is utterly unique - that is a hard mark to hit in this day and age when stories are being done to death...and then done again.  While there are elements that I've seen elsewhere (save someone's life, someone caught up in a weird circumstance, love story, etc) I have not seen them woven together quite like this.  I loved it.  :)  

Oh, and there were lots of fun new words to add to my vocabulary contained within this text.  I love it when that happens (and when the speaker talks about having to look up a word).  :)

The Bugly (bad/ugly)
Yeah yeah yeah, I'm such a whiner and my complaints are sooooo nitpicky.  But they are still complaints nonetheless, so here goes:
When the characters are traveling back and forth through time, that travel is seemingly described as spinning through the "in-between", the nothingness that exists between two points in time.  Spinning - that is how a lot of the descriptions here made my brain feel.  In my opinion, Gavin leaves a little too much to reader's imagination when setting a scene.  A few things are described in utter detail, while things that would make those previous things make sense are lacking. For example, there is a church scene with fire.  Where people and things are in that space was never very clear to me.  I know readers need to figure out what the scenes looks like themselves to a certain extent, but the fact that I would have to reread entire pages several times to figure out why people were suddenly in different places, or where something came from, etc detracted from the book itself.  That being said, as a movie this story would be FANTASTIC.  Having to work so hard to locate everything in space (temporal and physical) distracted me from the plot, which was a shame.

While the plot moved quickly, in some places it moved too quickly.  Readers are not allowed to just set and digest their surroundings, and characters making constant temporal jumps meant new characters were constantly being introduced and then either never being seen again or not being seen again for a long time.  Having to re-read pages just to figure out who was who was majorly bothersome to me.  I don't like being confused.

The physics doesn't work.  Yeah yeah, this is sci-fi and to a certain extent sci-fi has a right to ignore the laws of science.  Characters in this book even say they defy the natural laws.  Still, the physics don't work quite right.  Alternate universe, okay.  

Overall
I really liked this book.  While I don't like being confused and the confusing settings and a plot that moves a titch too quickly in some places confused me mightily, I was able to look past those flaws and genuinely enjoy this read.  It is a sci-fi love story that feels very steam-punk and has a little something for everyone from rebellious teenagers to young mothers.  

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Untimed by Andy Gavin a 8.  

Extra Stuff

RAFFLECOPTER!!

 Andy Gavin's Web Site:
http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/Andy Gavin's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/andygavinAndy Gavin's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/asgavinAndy Gavin's Blog:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/allthingsandygavin

Andy Gavin's Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/andrewgavin/

Andy Gavin's Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_GavinAndy Gavin's Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5406978.Andy_Gavin

Untimed Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16277039-untimedTribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

Untimed blog tour site:
http://untimed.blogspot.com/

"Guilded Wings: The Angel Chronicles, Book 2" by Amy Lignor (Tribute Books Read Along Blog Tour)

Blurb
"When Matt and Emily are sent on their second mission they have no idea how truly dark human nature can become...

Emily never wanted to face humans again.  With the heartache that went on down below, she's still trying to figure out how to save souls that don't deserve saving.  The only one she wants to see again is Jason - the young man she fell in love with who became the soulmate she simply can't forget..

Matt was trained to protect and defend the souls down below. Longing to feel the heartfelt emotions that come from being human, Matt wants nothing more than to have just one life - one chance - to live and love the girl of his dreams...

The powerful team find themselves in a brand new century, living in the Gilded Age of New York City.  Emily takes over the body of Anya, a young Russian girl who arrives on Ellis Island after a hideous tragedy.  There she meets up with a strangely familiar young man by the name of Drew Parrish, who helps Anya survive in an unknown world of luxury, snobbery and...obsession.

What Anya's inner angel doesn't know is hat the soul she loves is also back.  This time around Jason goes by the name of Max Carrow.  Once a quiet and kind boy, he's now part of the 'Four Hundred Club,' and wants noting more than to be among the most admired as he climbs the shaky ladder of society's elite.

As two worlds merge, Emily and Matt struggle under the weight of their "Guilded Wings." Not only will they have to figure out who they should fight to save, but they must also face a romantic choice that could destroy them both."

"Owlet" - by Emma Michaels (Tribute Books Blog Tour)

Blurb

"Somewhere between falling and flying...there is a girl.

Iris has a secret.  She lost her memory eight years ago and never told a living soul.  After an asthma attack one night she finds out that her dreams of a strange house on a snowy island may be a memory resurfacing but the more she learns about the past the more she realizes the life she has been living is a lie.  As the facade her father has built starts to crumble around her she will have to decide which means more to her: the truth or her life."

About the Author
"Emma Michaels is the author of the 'A Sense of Truth' and 'Society of Feather' series.  Her goal with her latest YA novel 'Owlet' is to give others what she did not have growing up: a strong female protagonist with asthma.  While her previous aspiration was to be a lady knight she realized that not being able to run more than a few feet might become a hindrance so turned to writing instead.  Her day jobs include being a cover artist, marketing consultant, and silk screen designer.

As the founder of The Writers Voice blog, she loves to connect authors and readers.  As a book blogger turned author, she was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, until she moved at eighteen to Washington State.  Suddenly, the world was a new place filled with tall green trees that reached further for the sky with every moment, making her want to do the same.  Ever since, she has tried to make her life something new and different from what it was before, pursuing her future career, setting high goals and reaching for them.  With the support of her fiance, Chihuahua, and her amazing blog followers and fellow bloggers, she wants to prove to the world that anything is possible and help inspire fellow literary lovers to reach for their dreams."

REVIEW
Even in our so-called "enlightened" society (pardon the sarcasm), it is difficult to find a book that has a character with a significant physical or mental illness.  Emma Michaels aimed to provide a book that shows just how capable of a "normal" life people with illnesses are when she chose to make the protagonist of "Owlet" a young lady with asthma.  Mythical elements, song, and fanciful writing come together in this work to weave a beautiful portrait of what happens when a special young lady finds out about the past she has forgotten.