Tag Archives: romance

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Featured Creator – Starla Huchton

I’ve decided that in the new year I’d like to feature a creator a week on this here blog. Basically, that’s me taking a few minutes to tell you about someone I know and whose work I enjoy. They could be artists, writers, musicians, programmers, or any number of other callings who put things they’ve made out there in the world for us all to see.

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For me, a sign of a good author is one who can bring new eyeballs into their genre. To do that, and to be prolific in multiple genres, is another sign. Add to that, talent in designing covers and in voice acting and you have a person like Starla Huchton.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing her for several years now, through podcasting and Balticon. She has a growing legion of loyal fans, and if the last two books of hers are any indication, I’ll be joining that army soon and very soon. Her characters are very well developed and she has a penchant for taking tropes you’re familiar with and flipping them around or tweaking them in a way that gives them life.

The other thing I appreciate about her is more as a business person than a creator. She approaches her multiple crafts in a way I wish more independent authors would. Everything she does is to serve the product. She puts out the highest quality books she can, from cover to concept to completion. Her attention to detail and consistent output are as important to her success as the joy her books bring to her fans.

Finally, Starla believes in giving back to her community. Every time I’ve approached her with a question or a comment, she doesn’t hesitate to help in any way she can. I think she knows this creative life isn’t a competition.

If you’re looking for a new book series to read, she’s got one you’ll probably enjoy. You can find her in these spots:

Website
Twitter
Facebook

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Review – Dominion of the Damned (Ebook)

jm bauhaus I’ve been following, reading, and enjoying Jean Marie’s work for a while now. I consider myself a fan and we’re also friends via the usual social media channels. She blends fantasy and romance in a way that I enjoy. When she solicited reviews for this book, I immediately raised my hand. Does this meet my standards? Read on and find out!

Nursing student Hannah Jordan knows things are bad when her mother dies while giving birth to a son. She knows things can’t get much worse when her mother gets back up and tries to have the baby for breakfast. When she’s forced to put her mother down like a rabid animal, only one certainty remains: Hannah will do whatever it takes to stay alive and protect her baby brother.

dominion coverThe only survivors out of a family of survivalists, Hannah and the baby ride out the zombie apocalypse in their family’s backyard bunker, emerging months later to find a world taken over by the newly self-appointed saviors of humanity: a race of vampires hellbent on preventing the extinction of their food supply.

The Goods – Zombie vs. Vampires with humans stuck in the middle? Sign me up! This uses the typical horror tropes well, without abusing them a la Twilight. The romance angle is well written and I enjoy watching the principle love interests falling for each other. Hannah Jordan is the kind of kick ass heroine I think we all need to see more of. She’s strong, but far from a robot. She knows her way around a gun and isn’t afraid to go hand to hand. She’s also smart, though she makes plenty of mistakes of the sort you’d expect from any young person. So, she’s no Mary Sue. The pacing and amount of detail are both solid. JM knows how to keep the story moving, but she doesn’t sacrifice character development. It’s definitely a page turner and literally kept me up until midnight so that I could find out what happened.

The Bads – As much as I enjoyed the book, it’s not without its flaws. Hannah is in her bunker for five months and it seems to me that the world went from normal to post apocalyptic far too quickly. Things happen that probably should have taken longer than five months. When a prisoner is telling her what’s happened since the zombie outbreak, it sounds like everything fell apart too quickly. Speaking of too quick, while I applaud the pacing, there are a few scenes that seem to move the plot along a little too quickly. More time with her settling into life at the camp would have made what happened next a little more believable. By that, I mostly mean the relationships that she builds with the other humans. They go much too fast. In addition, everything at the human camp is a little too clean and nice. Hannah starts off paranoid and justifiably so, but she works through it too quickly.

There’s also something that bugged me about both this and another romance I read recently. People are too nice to each other. I’ll grant you that most of the vampires are evil buggers, but I don’t recall there being an ounce of tension between Hannah and the people she ends up befriending. She does things that should bother her new neighbors and there’s no huge reason for anyone to be so open and trusting. I suppose I’ve just come to think of the post-apocalypse genre as being chock full of anti-social behavior.

Finally, while I found the idea of the solution to the zombie problem to be interesting, it was also a little confusing. How it works is a mystery, as is how it was developed.

None of these by themselves hurt the book that much, but a few answers might be forthcoming in the sequel.

The Verdict I enjoyed this book. The vampires are mostly monsters, though the doctor has an interesting explanation as to why that is. The romance is heartfelt. And the plot and characters worked for me. The flaws pulled me out of the story a few times, but getting back in was never a problem.

I give this book four out of five silver bullets and look forward to the next in this series.

Amazon Link

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Review – Restless Spirits by Jean Marie Bauhaus (E-book)

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restless_spirits I’ve known Jean Marie and worked with her on giveaways over the last year or so. When I saw that she was giving away one of her books, I decided to give it a look, even though the genre isn’t my cup of tea. What did I think? Read on.

A paranormal investigator becomes the subject of her own investigation after stumbling into the crosshairs of a malevolent spirit.

Veronica Wilson has her whole life behind her. At least, that’s what she comes to realize soon after waking up in the mysterious house she had come to investigate. A paranormal investigator by trade, Ron now finds herself investigating her own death with the help of a handful of helpful friendly ghosts — and one who’s just a pain in the ass. Unfortunately, being dead doesn’t keep Ron from noticing that he also possesses quite the nice ass, or from tingling in ways that almost make her feel alive whenever he’s near….

As if unwanted afterlife crushes weren’t bad enough, Ron soon discovers that she and her fellow ghosts aren’t the house’s only inhabitants. They’re all at the mercy of an entity named Sarah, who looks like a cute and innocent kid, but is in fact the reason each and every one of them died. Now Sarah keeps them prisoner and makes them her playthings, until she gets tired of them and… well, it turns out you can kill someone who’s already dead. Or at least Sarah can.

With the help of her still-living sister, a psychic medium who can talk to the dead, Ron and her ghostly housemates must unlock all of the mysteries that the house has to offer and find the way to defeat Sarah once and for all. Only then will they be free to move on to the other side. But is Ron really ready to go, especially now that she knows there’s a lot of living to do after death?

The Goods – I will freely admit, walking into this, that I was biased, and not in a positive way. I don’t generally read ghost stories, unless I’m guaranteed that they’re solidly in the horror genre. I don’t generally read romance. I’ve been branching out, though. I also don’t read very many stories where the heroine isn’t a bit more ass-kicky in the purely physical sense. There didn’t seem to be anything in the positive column, other than the fact that JM is a good writer. Well, let me tell you, I didn’t get two chapter in before I was hooked.

The thing I enjoyed most about this story were the characters. Ron and her sister were well fleshed out. I’d love to see more of her sister in future books (and if you want to help there be future books there’s a Kickstarter). The other ghosts that inhabit the house Ron is haunting are also engaging. Ron develops, not only as a ghost, but as a character. Some of the spirits we meet are a little more see through, but the main bunch are also well developed.

The plot was a very solid mystery. It kept me guessing all throughout with some great red herrings and a satisfying conclusion. The love story at its heart had nice tension and given the differences between Ron and her beau there was a bit of conflict. I really blazed through this story, so if you’re looking for a mystery with fantastic pacing and fresh, interesting characters this is a good find.

The “big bad” and the resolution to the mystery were very satisfying (and heart string tugging). In a mystery, that is, of course, required. And even though most of the characters were ghosts she did a good job of making me feel like there was true jeopardy attached.

The Bads – There was nothing “bad” per se in this story. I did find that the romance felt a little rushed. I would have liked to see it develop over time. I also would have liked to see more conflict, but given that this is more of a mystery than a romance, I don’t feel that it hurt the story.

Verdict – This is certainly not a terribly deep exploration of human nature and or what the next life holds, but it’s also not just a bit of fluff. There’s action, danger, romance, and laughs. If you want an engaging mystery with well done characters that’s a fun read then you need to snap this up. And for the next month or so, you can grab it at no cost.

I give this book four and a half out of five red rubber balls.

Amazon
Author’s Site
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Telesa – Ebook Giveaway

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Congratulations to Evilactionfigure! I’ll be getting out a copy of Getting To Bliss to them ASAP.

This week we have a fantasy/romance for you guys by Lani Wendt Young.

When Leila moves to her new home, all she wants is a family, a place to belong. Instead she discovers the local ancient myths of the telesa spirit women are more than just scary stories. The more she finds out about her heritage, the more sinister her new home turns out to be. Embraced by a Covenant Sisterhood of earth’s elemental guardians – what will Leila choose? Her fiery birthright as a telesa? Or will she choose the boy who offers her his heart? Daniel – stamped with the distinctive tattoo markings of a noble Pacific warrior and willing to risk everything for the chance to be with her. Can their love stand against the Covenant Keeper?

A thriller-romance with a difference. If you enjoyed Twilight, then you will be enthralled by Telesa as it blends the richness of Pacific mythology into a contemporary young adult love story that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.

To enter to win this week’s book, leave me a comment on this post and let me know what the last romantic getaway you had was. Or you can purchase it here.

I plan on giving away a book a week this year, but none of them will be my own. Why? Well, I believe in helping introduce people to new authors and nothing does that like FREE! The contests will be as simple as leaving a comment on the blog, or showing me that you’ve left a review on Amazon or Smashwords of books you’ve picked up in the past. I’ll try and change things up to keep them interesting, but by and large you won’t have to work hard.

If you’re an author and you’d like to pitch your hat into the ring, let me know. I’m not asking you to give me anything for free. I plan on buying your e-book from Amazon/Smashwords as a gift for the winner. So in addition to you getting your name out there, you’ll also get a sale for the contest. The most I can budget per week is $2.99, so if you have a book in the $.99-$2.99 price range let me know. I reserve the right to turn you down, but I will try and do so gently. I’d like to have a variety of genres represented.

If you have a free book and would like me to just get the word out I can do that, but you won’t be part of my contest. If your book is more expensive and you would like to donate a copy, that works too.

Shoot me an e-mail, a DM, or leave me a comment to enter your book.