Tangled Bloodlines by Deborah Noel

Book blurb

Via Goodreads

"This is not your sweet sparkling vampire story. Old-school vampires have re-surfaced, responsible for brutal murders and more blood than anyone can cope with. In ""Tangled Blood Lines"", Cianna Fitzgerald, a young but "retired" crime scene investigator, finds herself back in a world she walked away from some years ago.

She grew up in twentieth century Pennsylvania countryside knowing she possesses superhuman powers from her "Irish pixie" bloodlines. She had retired after a particularly tough case where the victim was her husband's twin brother. After her brief respite from murders and homicides, Cianna witnesses a killing where the murderer is a vampire. Her daughter goes missing soon after the killing. Cianna and the love she had once pushed out of her life, her estranged husband Declan, travel halfway around the world to try to save their child.

As the mystery unravels, she learns that although she is a half-breed, the other half isn't "Irish pixie" as she grew up believing - weaving her into a more tangled history and frightening future than she had bargained for.

My review

Tangled Bloodlines by Deborah Noel.

The start of this book is astounding. It reads like a mixture between Karen

Roses and Kathy Reich.

The crime scenes are vivid, detailed and extremely graphic. The observations

are excellent and the reactions human!

But it is not a murder mystery. It is not a CSI or a normal run of the mill

detective story. It is instead a paranormal thriller.

As you read on you discover that the main characters Cianna and her

estranged husband Declan are not ordinary folk. They have family skeletons.

Skeletons that come with certain powers. These powers, they soon noticed are

passed on from them to their daughter Mattie. Mattie and the family dog

Bullet are by far the two coolest characters in the book!

But things start to happen. Cianna's personal work related demons come back

to haunt her and as she delves deeper she finds that her world is a lie.

Things that go bump in the night do exist!  Together they are thrown into

situations where they learn to accept myth as fact and when Mattie is

abducted from school they need to make peace with their own abilities and

Irish Pixie bloodlines. But again the truth and Mattie escape them.

I loved reading this book. The characters both main and secondary to

peripheral is fluffed out and given a unique voice!

The reader gets to know the characters and will soon be rooting for certain

bloodlines above others. No sparkly anything in this story. In this book the

normal and supernatural follow the lines of reason and of natural selection.

The fittest survive and the choice between evil and good is an individual

one. Not dictated by bloodlines.

This is a fresh new take on all bumpy creepy things. I loved it.

I am often berated due to my lack of constructive criticism. So I decided

ill give it a try - sorry Deborah. My criticism is two fold. I am not a

raving fan of the last chapter in the book!  It has a cliffhanger ending

which is good but a few logical questions is left unanswered. It may very

well be answered in the sequel. Which brings me to my second criticism. Why

oh why is there not a sequel available yet?  What am I supposed to do - walk

a high wire of anticipation until the release of the second book?  Hmf.

I give this book a 5/5 star rating. I loved the story and would recommend it

and even gift it to any lover of the supernatural genre!

Interview to follow, one thing I can share, she had a friend of hers do all the German translations for her.  It added an air of mystique to the story.

Guardian by Gillian Joy

Headstrong and determined, Hannah always knew that she would become the Guardian. She was the keeper and the protector of all supernatural. What she didn't expect was that it would mean she would have to endure the agonising death of her mother first hand as their supernatural connection brings her to her knees, or that it would mean that she could never be with the man she loved.
Blond haired, blue eyed Gabriel was her handsome childhood friend, but would circumstances prevent her from ever being able to explore her true feelings for him?
Jesse, the dark alluring but incorrigible vampire would give anything to be with her, but as the guardian Hannah is forbidden to fall in love with the supernatural.
With her life in turmoil over her conflicting emotions about Gabriel and Jesse and her frustration at being unable to exact revenge for her mother’s horrific death, Hannah flees her life in an attempt to start over. But can we ever really escape from ourselves?
There is no escaping destiny no matter how hard she might try and Hannah must learn to reconcile her commitment to her family with her responsibility as the Guardian and her duty to her heart

My Review!

 Hannah is the girl next door. She is pretty, some would even say very pretty. She has as best friend, a boy named Gabriel. He is the IT boy in town. His father is the sheriff and thus a truly influential man. And so begins the story, like most other stories, with a boy and a girl. Oh and a kiss.

   But Hannah is not the girl next door. She is pretty yes, but she has a destiny. She is the Guardian - the Venatorcustos. She was born from a line of Guardians. Her mother, Susannah served the world in this capacity for 600 years and her mother before her, well maybe as long as 3000 years. Hannah has a past, a destiny and a responsibility that could cost her everything she holds dear.


   Guardians are responsible for Crudelitas! They are to make sure that they do not harm humans, that they do not take dominance over some group or the other. She is the keeper of order. Tough job when dealing with Vampires, mermaids and witches to name but a few!  Oh sorry. Did I did mention that Fairies and werewolves and such are indeed Crudelitas? Luckily Hannah is born with all the collective memory of every proceeding Guardian.


   But Hannah's memory could not save the life of her mother, her super human powers could do nothing to save the life of her father Jonathan and her love did nothing to change the fate of her beloved Gabriel!


   Structurally Guardian is fast paced and entertaining. The character development of Hannah and Bernard is especially endearing. Hannah is truly human. The little girl grows up to be a willful young woman and with that comes temper tantrums and impatience. Hannah is most certainly very human, and I loved this aspect of the story. Bernard, a character introduced nearly at the start of the book, is portrayed as eccentric and loveable. He is a grandfatherly type with hidden depths that I myself can't wait to learn more about in the next book of this trilogy. One character however never goes through any growth. I found that puzzling since the characterization of main and peripheral characters are expertly done through out the book. The character of Gabriel however shows a complete lack of growth. But it soon dawned on me that the answer is simple. Gabriel is perfect!  He can't get any more perfect. I found this a brilliant characterization move on Gillian part and loved Gabriel all the more for his state of being eternally perfect and eternally Hannah's first and only love.


   I really loved reading the book. Peripheral characters are introduced with regular intervals and the depths of their roles in the story fully explored. The characters are either very human, very Angelic, perfectly perfect or truly evil. Very little grey areas exists in the world of the Guardian and this contrast to the real world is expertly revealed later on in the book when Hannah's' real life and her life as a Guardian meets in the living room of her house in Australia.


   I always feel as if I should choose my words carefully when doing a review as not to give out spoilers. With Guardian I find it especially difficult since it is indeed a tangled web Gillian wove. I highly recommend Guardian to any lover of YA Paranormal literature and give it a six out of five scale rating. Not only do I recommend the book to readers but I would happily gift it to my best friend to read and enjoy

The cover of Forever.  Stunning hey?

Four Short Stories

I personally find it difficult to review short stories. As per my norm I'll

do reviews on any book, on request. I prefer dark and twisted but I do

not limit my life, nor my reading experience, to my preference. Thus far my

biggest challenge lay in reviewing children's books!  Even if I love it I

have no idea if a certain age group would. In reviewing short stories I have

found a much more challenging culture than that of children's book. So bear

with me as we explore the following short stories together:

   The first story in our exploration is Unintended Outcomes by MJ McCann. This

story is 14 pages long and deals with a homicide case in a supermarket. The

policing procedure is explained in enough details to ensure that the authors

love and knowledge of firearms becomes apparent. Character

involvement is done ingeniously through personal taste preferences for

certain vehicles and dress codes etc.

   The murder itself is where in the core of the story according to me is tied

in. The murder is so senseless and so bruta,l and perpetrated by such an

unlikely offender, that the last sentence of the story, as well as the book

title, serves to tie the story together. I found it a disturbing read and for

that reason alone I would recommend it. I can't say I liked the story. It is

really not a feel good story. It is however one of those truly unique

stories that your mind keeps turning over and over again.  I'll give this

short story a 4 out of 5 star rating. Its recommended but will not fall in

everybody's taste!

   The second story is A Christmas Crossing by Lynn Hubbard. In this story you

will find real character growth of the main character Sarah. I found this

remarkable in a 29 page short story and highly commendable as to the talent

of the author. This is, however, not a typical feel good Christmas story. It is 

a story of hope and life as lived by real people during the American

revolutionary war!

   I will recommend this story to any history buff. It will stick with you, that

I can guarantee. Again I give this story a 4 out of 5 star review. It is a

good read although it will not fall into everybody's taste.

   The next short story for review is The Premonition, written by a good friend

of mine, Kelvin O'Ralph. 

   This is a six page read!  Jason falls asleep, has a dream and wakes up. Only

to have his day start in the exact same manner as it did in his very

shocking dream. This story has no grounding, no history and no character

development. This should serve to make it a forgetful read but instead it

serves to add to the general feeling of existentialism embedded throughout

the story.

I give this story a 4 out of five star rating. The title is the main focus

line of this story and most readers will walk away from the story wondering

whether it was a premonition. This will most definately not serve as an easy read but

instead as a "the story keeps lingering in my mind" read.

The last of my short story reviews for today is A Christmas Miracle by Willow Cross. 

This 12 page story is semi - predictable. It is filled with hope and dreams and

lives up to its name. It is a story in which dreams come true. I loved it

for its predictability and that "feel good" feeling I had once I finished

it. As per usual Willow Cross's writing style is easy and fast. Character

development is lacking but it is not about building a character. It is about

showing the true nature of human kind and the strenght of character they

already possess!  I give it a 5 out of 5 star rating. I am hard pressed to

think of anybody who would not walk away from the story feeling all warm and

fuzzy inside.

 

 

Thrust into a war she did not choose, Sarah Fanum yearns for simpler times. Times when all she had to worry about were bad crops or bad weather.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Set in 1776, my short story, A Christmas Crossing describes the night that changed the course of the Revolutionary War. It is not your typical Christmas story, but one that has affected every fabric of our lives as an American.

I was inspired to write A Christmas Crossing after visiting Yorktown, VA. I have always been enamored by the Revolutionary War and wanted to share my love for history with my love for Christmas. I hope you enjoy it

 

The truth shall set you free, or so they say, but what happens when the it does the complete opposite?
Jason Pendrill is orphaned after his mother's death, and like most orphans, he's lost and confused. His mourning is interrupted by a mysterious girl.
What news does she have for young Jason? Also, she's only a teenager, what news could she possible have?

 

A short inspirational story about a single mother and a very special Christmas.

2012

Wow. Its been some time since my last drop in over on this blog of mine.  Hope to see you all soon and that we will be having loads of fun here.
Wanda

Tyburn By Kevin Grote

About the author - courtesy of an open source search on Google

Kevin John Grote was born in Latrobe, PA. His family moved to Southern Maryland in the late 1960's. He graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. Kevin served as an Engineering Officer in the Coast Guard on several cutters.. After the Coast Guard, Kevin went to work at the Naval Ordnance Station in Indian Head, MD. Kevin worked for the Navy, until his retirement from Federal Service. Kevin has a US Patent, and has authored many technical papers on electronic design, software engineering, and information systems.
Kevin has been an avid reader his entire life. His favorite authors are Sir Walter Scott, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Bernard Cornwell, Patrick O'Brian, and James Fenimore Cooper.
Kevin grew up in an area steeped in the French and Indian War. This series of novels (Letters of Fire and Sword) will be an homage to that conflict and the struggles in the wilderness.
Tyburn

“STAND AND DELIVER!”
Click.
It is the unmistakable sound of the hammer of a flint-lock pistol being pulled back to full-cock.
“Stand and deliver,” orders a voice again from the woods nearest the road, “Your money, gentlemen, or your life? It matters not to me, gentlemen. Please raise your arms. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
A horseman moves out of the shadow of the trees and into the road, blocking the coaches’ progress.
The coachman wrestles with the idea of reaching for his shotgun.
His hand slides down beneath the seat..........
“STAND AND DELIVER!”
After dark in 18th Century England, it a dangerous time.
Honest folk avoid the roads at night, and lock themselves in as the sun goes down. Both in the countryside and the great cities.
Strangers are feared and avoided.
Predators roam unstopped. Only the most desparate or well-armed venture out at night. Footpads, highwaymen, thugs of every shape and size, patrol the roads and streets. Lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce on any unsuspecting victim.
Lawlessness is rampant. The abuse of low-priced Gin plagues the lower classes, adding more misery to those least able to afford it. Those addicted are turning to crime in desperation.
There is no organized police force.

That is the blurb guys.  Here is the stunning cover!

And here is the review by my guest blogger Denise Jones.  Thank you Denise.

I can't praise this book up enough, I just loved it! The charactures, the

story......I could almost imagine I was actually there.

The research done for this book is fantastic, brings back the atmosphere so

well of those times gone by.

I certainly will be reading more by this author!

I give it a well deserved 6/6  Brilliant read!

LS The Beginning by Kelvin O'Ralph

LS The Beginning an e-book by Kelvin O'Ralph.

What a sweet whimsical book. This is an old fashioned love story the likes

of which I have not read in years. Its also a paranormal YA / New Adult

read. Although the two main characters Stephen and Lisa have super powers.

The one commands over fire the other ice. It is the love story that mostly

sticks with me.

The writing is excellent. Pacing is fine and the author goes through a lot

of trouble building character. The book is written from a male point of

view. You read the story and experience everything through the eyes of

Stephen. That is the one thing that gave me pause. I stopped reading the

book because something bothered me and made me feel uncomfortable while

reading. At one stage I gave up reading the book for two days. When I

returned to the book I realised what exactly it was that I found so hard to

read. It had nothing to do with the male point of view. Instead it had to do

with the respect Stephen and by proxy Kelvin shows to all females.

I know we all are told we are worth it. But somehow reading how much respect

Stephen has for females, from his mother to Lisa and several other strangers

and friends in between caught me unawares. Once I realised that I had

trouble reading a book due to the fact that the male lead has so much

respect for woman gave me several moments of pause. But I picked up the

story where I left it and continued together with Kelvin and Stephen and

Lisa in a journey into the unknown.

At the end of the book you know a few things.

Lisa and Stephen have super powers and they are not alone.

Lisa's life is in danger through a threat posed by another male who also has

super powers.

The books name LS the Beginning is not explained. LS is something that will

become apparent only in the third book in the series.

Stephen will do anything for Lisa.

Men believe in true love and some men show their respect for women.

I loved the fact that by the end of the book no real answers has come forth.

Questions has been asked and certain story lines have come to a conclusion

but in such a manner that you feel comfortable is finishing the book whilst

looking forward to the next book in search of answers.

I really enjoyed the book after I got over my own preconceived notions and

feel I owe the author a word of thanks. It is seldom that a fictional tale

has served to broaden my mental horizons. Thanks Kelvin - because we are

worth it!

I give this book a 5 out of 5 rating

Please see blurb of this book on Goodreads. Smashwords, Amazon etc.

Willow Cross The Dark Gifts Birthright

So here is the book blurb via Goodreads
Throughout the ages, druids have passed down a prophecy from one generation to the next. A girl, born of a witch clan, will become vampyre and spark a war that will divide the vampire nation. This young woman will either save humanity from vampire reign, or be the end of it. Although she’s never heard the prophecy, and doesn’t believe in witchcraft, Liz Markum is that woman.

Working with her maker, Michael, and the remaining members of the warring Vampire Council, Liz must defeat the darkness inside her, and learn to become more than a killer vampire. She must become a vampire killer
Here is the book cover via Facebook

Here is my review.  But what ever I say, I cant stress enough what a brilliant read this is.....

The Dark Gifts Birthright by Willow Cross.

In the beginning Liz meets with Michael. He bites, she turns vamp. Quite Bram Stoker like for three or four pages.
They meet up and fall immediately irreparably in love. Quite Twilight like for the next 15 or so pages.
Then the good the bad and the ugly rears their ugly little heads and from here on out its different to any Paranormal / YA / or New Adult book I've ever read. Minerva, Gregoria, Jenna and about 60 other characters join the cast to make this book totally amazing.
I was struck with the amount of research that must have gone into writing this book.
For those of you who follow my reviews you will know that I refrain from making technical judgements.
This will be the exception.
Willow has a rare ability for pacing and introducing an array of characters in rapid succession. But never does she use this fast level of pacing and her cliff hanger chapter endings to get out of character development. By the time you are finished with the book you really hate the bad guys and absolutely love the good guys.
By this time you also know that I don't rehash the story of the book in a brief synopsis. Usually I don't since I feel that the authors blurb or my own will get the reader of this review a good idea of what the book is about in essence. In this case I can't do it at all even if I wanted to.
Her fast pace, introduction of evil and saint like characters left me feeling like a child playing hide and seek. You don't want to be found out but you can't resist peeking from your hiding place to try and see what is coming next.
For those romantics out in cyber land - do not fear. This book is filled with romance and not only the romance between Michael and Liz bit also some other less predictable characters.

As I read the book I was filled with the idea that this book is a ken to watching a master Persian carpet weaver undertake another master peace.

I loved the fact that almost all things known to go bump in the night were mentioned in this story and that the symbiotic and discordant life styles of these dark creatures were explained logically and believably.

I give this book a 6 out of 5 star review. I will not only recommend you buy it and read it yourself, I would proudly gift it to my friends. Oh no wait. I already gifted it to my friends. That's simply how good this book is. I can't wait to start on the rest of the books authored by her.

A 6 / 5 STAR REVIEW GUYS
I need to thank Denise Jones for correcting my spelling and grammar errors and for translating South African English to real English.  Thank you Denise.....