My Favorite Things by Lynsay Sands

December 5, 2019 By Leave a Comment


My Favorite Things by Lynsay Sands
A Christmas Collection
Publisher: Avon Books
Genre: Historical, Holiday, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full length (353 pages)
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Poinsettia

All I Want

With Lady Prudence’s father gambling away the family’s savings, all she wants for Christmas is to haul him away from London’s most notorious gaming hell. Yet the wickedly handsome proprietor, Lord Stockton, refuses to let a lady enter his establishment. Now Pru needs a Christmas miracle to make her wish come true—and to resist succumbing to Stockton’s charms.

Three French Hens

Brinna’s life as a scullery maid changes with the arrival of the castle’s newest guest, Lady Joan. Desperate to escape an arranged marriage, Joan suggests that look-alike Brinna take her place at the Christmas festivities. Suddenly, Brinna finds herself being wooed by a true gentleman, and getting the best Christmas present of all: a new life.

The Fairy Godmother

Odel is told by her godmother that she must marry by Christmas, and even gives her fairy dust to separate the mice from the men. But Odel has sworn off love…until kind and generous Michel catches her eye. He shows Odel how good it can feel to fall in love, but will it be enough to convince Odel to trust her heart?

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All I Want

Prudence and Stephen are such a fun couple to watch! Their tale is the perfect start to this collection. Prudence has so many outlandish schemes and plots to try and stop her father from gambling, and they all go hilariously wrong. While Prudence has good intentions, chaos always seems to follow her. I never knew what she was going to try next. Prudence certainly keeps Stephen on his toes, and I found myself laughing throughout their story.

Despite how much fun it is to watch Prudence and Stephen, her family’s situation is very serious. Ms. Sands perfectly balanced Prudence’s amusing antics with the precarious financial situation of Prudence’s family. My heart broke for her when she finally gave up hope just as she and Stephen realized they were falling in love. I will say the solution to Prudence’s problem was a bit predictable, but was very sweet.

Three French Hens

Brinna and Royce’s story was unusual. When Lady Joan and her best friend Sabrina practically force Brinna to impersonate her, I had serious doubts about Brinna’s ability to learn to successfully impersonate a noble woman. This implausible plot was made a bit more believable by the fact that barely anyone at the party truly knew Lady Joan. Sabrina is especially irritating in her efforts to keep people as far away from Brinna as possible while she is acting as Lady Joan.

Royce is very persistent and makes every effort to get to know Brinna, thinking she is Joan. Brinna and Royce have great chemistry, and I enjoyed watching them fall in love. I really had no idea how the story would end, and I must say that the conclusion was interesting if a bit abrupt. Brinna’s happy ending is well deserved.

The Fairy Godmother

Odel and Michel’s story is my favorite in this anthology. I felt so sorry for Odel. While her father was living, her life had no joy. His passing allowed her to breath and live life on her own terms. Unfortunately, her fairy godmother, Matilda, seems to have other ideas. Matilda seems to think Odel needs a husband. Despite Odel’s protests, Matilda presents Odel with a multitude of suitors, and all of them are completely ridiculous.

Michel is a breath of fresh air. Of all the couples in this anthology, Odel and Michel’s relationship felt the most natural. While they found each other attractive, they didn’t fall in love at first sight. Instead, they grew on each other. I loved watching them spend time together talking and playing chess. With Michel’s help, Odel gradually came out of her shell. Their happy ending is extremely satisfying.

I highly recommend My Favorite Things to fans of historical romance. It is a heartwarming collection of stories sure to get readers in the Christmas spirit!

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Pact of the White Blade Knights by Barbara Russell

December 4, 2019 By 1 Comment


The Pact of the White Blade Knights by Barbara Russell
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Action/Adventure, Historical, Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full length (248 pages)
Heat Level: Hot
Rating: 4.5 stars
Review by: Moonflower

London, 1884.

While other twenty-seven-year-old, middle-class women think about rearing children and attending dinner parties, Hazel finds herself unmarried and unemployed.

The stuffy barons of the Royal Archaeologic Society don’t believe a woman can be an archaeologist, so they gave her the sack. Having slapped the leader of the society when he groped her breasts might have something to do with losing her job.
With bills to pay and a stomach to fill, she accepts a position as dealer in ancient artefacts. It’d be her dream job except that her new employer, Tyon Sancerre, has more secrets than an Egyptian tomb and is probably involved with the Whitechapel’s mob.
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Tyon claims to be a sin-eater, a human turned into an immortal to clean people’s souls from their sins. After he and the other sin-eaters—the knights of the White Blade—were cursed, they were separated and scattered around the world. Alone the sin-eaters don’t hold much power, and with their enemies—the sin-breathers—multiplying and causing wars and famine, the only way Tyon has to find his brothers is through a relic Hazel worked with at the museum.

It’s all poppycock, that’s what she says. But when sin-breathers attack them, a ghost appears to her, and she witnesses wounds healing themselves in a moment, she wonders if her beliefs need to be reconsidered.

And the worst thing? She’s falling in love with an immortal, cranky, too-many-centuries-year-old white knight.

Hazel works in the museum for the Royal Archaeological Society, determined to be different from her dad, who died a laughingstock. She believes in science, not magic. What she believes though, is about to be turned on its head.

This was a great story that captured and held my interest all the way through. Hazel’s reasons for the way she is are clearly explained, leaving you in no doubt about the way she acts. Tyon, on the other hand, is a bit of an enigma; his story only coming out in fits and starts. There is an attraction between them although they don’t act on it straight away. Aleximanus has his own story to tell, and it’s not one you think of to begin with. My heart broke just a little bit for him and I really can’t wait to read his story (I’m optimistic he will get one.)

This is a complex and intriguing story, delving into myths and legends you may not have heard of. The world-building is excellent, and the characters have a richness about them that immediately helps you to connect with them. This is the first book in the series so you are left with a slight cliffhanger regarding one of the characters, plus a HFN for our two main characters.

I honestly can’t wait to see where this story goes next! Absolutely recommended by me.

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The Deadly 50/50: An Afterlife Story by Lara MacGregor

December 2, 2019 By Leave a Comment


The Deadly 50/50: An Afterlife Story by Lara MacGregor
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (21 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

“When I passed on, they told me that they hadn’t seen a situation like mine in a thousand years. From the moment I crossed over, I was hoping to be blinded by bright light but wasn’t. Oddly, I wasn’t sucked into eternal darkness either.”

A woman dies and is approached by three men from Anglo-Saxon days who inform her that she is neither good enough for heaven nor bad enough for hell. They give her a task, and if she succeeds, she can move on to better things: She must steal the keys from the gatekeeper to hell.
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She takes a trip down there and discovers some interesting things about herself, and is in for a shock when she sees that the gatekeeper is her ex-lover. If she succeeds in her task, he will pay a terrible price. She is torn.

Some folks are hard to classify as any one thing.

Celestina’s personality was a wonderful mixture of different traits. There were moments when she behaved terribly and other moments when she was completely selfless and kind. Showing who she was at her best and at her worst made her feel like a real person to me. She couldn’t be pinned down as any one particular thing. This only made me more interested in seeing how the total sum of her life would be judged in the end. It seemed just as plausible for her to be sent to hell as it did for her to be sent to heaven instead!

I was confused by Celestina’s history with her ex, Vic. Their pasts were described quickly and in ways that seemed not to be chronological. Due to this, I had trouble piercing together why their relationship ended and why Vic was so angry with her when they first met up early on in the plot. It would have been helpful for their conversation on this topic to be clearer so I could better understand how they related to each other moving forward from this scene.

The descriptions of the hot, smoky place the main character ended up at after she died made me shudder. It definitely wasn’t a pleasant spot to visit. Knowing that hell was much worse than this in-between spot only made me more curious to see what would happen to the protagonist next. I couldn’t imagine her spending all of eternity in that claustrophobic room, much less anywhere where actual torture was going on.

I’d recommend The Deadly 50/50: An Afterlife Story to anyone who has ever wondered how their good deeds might be weighed against their bad ones.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear

December 2, 2019 By Leave a Comment


The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Genre: Childrens, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Holiday, Action/Adventure, Historical
Length: Short Story (40 pages)
Age Recommendation: 6+
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Charles wants to find a wish tree. His brother and sister don’t believe there is such a thing, but his trusty companion Boggan is ready to join Charles on a journey to find out. And along the way, they discover that wishes can come true in the most unexpected ways.

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There’s something about all winter holidays that sprinkles a little magic into the air.

Charles was such a kind boy. He wandered into the woods with his toboggan in order to find a wish tree. When none of the trees matched that description, he put his energy into doing nice things for the animals who lived in the forest instead. I thought it was wonderful to read about him spending his time helping others with no expectation of getting anything back in return. It really captured the meaning of the holiday season nicely.

I would have liked to see just a little more world building when it came to the wish tree and how Charles knew about it if everyone around him was convinced it didn’t exist. This is a very minor criticism of something I loved reading, but I did find it a little unusual for a kid his age to come up with such an idea without anyone mentioning how he’d heard of it or why he was convinced it really existed.

One of my favorite things about this book was that it never specified which holiday Charles was celebrating. There are any number of winter celebrations his family might have called their own. The specific festive occasion wasn’t important to the plot. What mattered was that the main character was having the time of his life and wanted to make sure he shared those happy feelings with everyone he met. Leaving things open like this was the perfect way to include every reader in his good will towards all living things.

Anyone who looks forward to this time of the year should give The Wish Tree a try.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Nilay’s Wish by Riya Aarini

November 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Nilay’s Wish by Riya Aarini
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Childrens, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Historical
Length: Short Story (104 pages)
Age Recommendation: 8+
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Eleven-year-old Nilay unexpectedly releases a novice genie named Jai on the beaches of Lake Ontario, Canada. Nilay makes his wish for the perfect red silk saree to present to his mom on her birthday; but as a newbie genie, Jai has his own spin on wish granting.

The new friends travel back in time to ancient India so that Jai may fulfill the boy’s wish in an authentic manner. Nilay and Jai experience countless adventures in India from 300 CE through 1565 CE as they follow the trail of India’s Saurashtrian silk weavers.
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Lighthearted, comical and chock full of excitement and magic, Nilay’s Wish will grip the hearts and minds of young readers. The story is thoroughly entertaining, while giving children a glimpse into historic India, especially Indian silk weaving. A handful of incredible and engaging illustrations offer a peek into the life and times of ancient India.

Creating the perfect silk saree isn’t as easy as it may seem.

Nilay was such a cheerful and enthusiastic main character. He found the good in everything he experienced while he was on this adventure. That’s not always easy to do, especially for a kid who has just been thrown into a world that is so unlike modern Canada. I got a kick out of seeing his responses to situations that honestly would have made me a little nervous at times. His positive attitude was truly delightful.

One of the questions I had when I first started reading this book had to do with why Jai decided to show Nilay so many different parts of Indian history before fulfilling his wish. Going back in time made sense, but it seemed to me like it would have been simpler to pick one historical era to visit before giving Nilay what he wanted. The explanation for why this didn’t happen felt a little weak to me. As interesting as it was to see how the main character reacted to all of the places and people he saw, I would have preferred for those scenes to happen after the purpose for them was explained better.

There was a lot of adventure packed into this tale. I enjoyed seeing how the characters reacted to all of the things that happened to them. They were surprised by so many twists and turns on their journey. Some of their experiences were funny while others were a little hair-raising at times. All of them were worth reading about, however.

I’d recommend Nilay’s Wish to readers who enjoy history, adventures, or, better yet, both!

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Writ of Years by Brit Mandelo

November 28, 2019 By Leave a Comment


The Writ of Years by Brit Mandelo
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Historical
Length: Short Story (18 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Few things can be as terrible as to get your heart’s desire.

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Cursed objects aren’t something that I see very often in modern science fiction tales, so I was incredibly curious to see how this concept would be used by the author. The narrator was just about the last person on Earth who should have found this item. They had issues with self control for reasons that are better discovered by each new reader for themselves. The combination of a protagonist who was terribly impulsive and a rare object that really didn’t want to be touched only made this plot device even better.

The ending left something to be desired. There was so much foreshadowing in the beginning and middle that I was surprised by how many loose strings were left by the time the final sentence had been written. I definitely saw glimpses of what the protagonist’s fate would be, but it sure would have been nice to have a clearer understanding of how it actually played out in the end.

This story steadily dripped more and more information about the protagonist and the cursed item they discovered. I enjoyed the fact that I knew virtually nothing about either of them in the beginning but gradually put together their backgrounds as the plot progressed while still leaving plenty of room for the imagination to fill in the gaps. It only made the later scenes even more deliciously scary than they would have otherwise been.

If you’ve ever done something and then immediately regretted it, The Writ of Years might be right up your alley.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead by Dennis Danvers

November 26, 2019 By Leave a Comment


All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead by Dennis Danvers
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (32 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead, by Dennis Danvers, is dark, magical realism tale about a lone woman building a cabin in the mountains of Appalachia and the strange man she encounters there.

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The animals in this tale were honestly just as interesting to get to know as the human characters. Lucille, Maggie’s dog, had a backstory that made me blink back tears. There was far more than met the eye when it came to the snakes that lived on their property as well. As nervous as I get around real rattlesnakes, I would have loved to meet these ones. They had good reasons for behaving the way that they did so close to humans, and I enjoyed figuring that part of the plot out just as I much as I did learning why Lucille was such a shy dog.

I was surprised by how few questions Maggie, the main character, asked about her mysterious new neighbor, especially once the romantic sparks began to fly between them. She was momentarily curious about the pieces of his story that didn’t fit together, but she didn’t do as much follow through on those questions as I thought she would. Based on how puzzled the town folks were about him, I really thought she’d take their reactions to heart and dig deeper into his past. There were so many things about it that were either never explained or saved until the very end despite how unusual they were.

With that being said, Maggie herself was a well-written character. She’d been through some tough experiences in her life, and she was anything but healed from them when she moved to Appalachia. I was intrigued by the thought of someone making such a drastic change in their life after being through so many huge changes that were involuntary. It was fun to figure out why she did this and what she hoped to accomplish by it.

All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead was a nice mixture of modern fantasy and romance. I’d recommend it to fans of either of these genres.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging by Harry Turtledove

November 26, 2019 By 1 Comment


The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging by Harry Turtledove
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Short Story (32 pages)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Some people will tell you that world-class fame is better than living to a contented old age. Other people disagree. One of those other people might possibly be the protagonist of The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging by Harry Turtledove, master of the counterfactual.

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At first glance, this world was very similar to our own. The differences between them were important, though, and they did give important hints about the science fiction elements of the plot. I was fascinated by this alternate version of history and how a small tweak to the flow of time could have such big impacts on the lives of certain people.

It would have been nice to have a bit more information about why history played out differently in this world than it did in our own. Everything after that small change was described beautifully, but the reasons why the change happened in the first place weren’t given the same treatment. I would have liked to have a few words added to explain what happened there, but this is a minor criticism of something I absolutely loved otherwise.

Anne’s character development was wonderful. She’d reached a point in her life when she had plenty of time to reflect on everything that happened to her over the last eighty years. Her personality had clearly been shaped by those experiences, so it was interesting to see how events from many years ago were still echoing through to the present day. Some memories never fade no matter how much time passes.

The Eight-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging is a must- read for anyone who loves to imagine how history might have turned out differently if one little thing had been changed at the right moment.

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Salvaging Abby by N.J. Walters

November 25, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Salvaging Abby by N.J. Walters
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Short story (121 pages)
Other: M/F
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Dryas

Space salvager Abby Marks has lived through the deaths of her brothers and an abduction. Independent, she lives by her own rules. But her life takes a turn when she decides to salvage what appears to be an abandoned Gravasian ship—only to come face-to-face with Vaden el Gravaso, an intimidating, yet downright sexy warrior, who seems intent on keeping her.

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This is a novella in the Marks Mercenaries series and, although this can be read as a standalone, reading it after the others makes it better. Abigail (Abby) Marks is hiding from Jasper Freeman, the leader of the Simplistics who caused a mine explosion to kill her brothers so he could kidnap her to become his wife when she matured. Talk about starting with a bang!

The characters are well developed with a fun plot. Abby has been on her own since she escaped from Jasper, which made her grow up faster than if the mines had not been sabotaged. I had to admire her strength, tenacity, and stubbornness. I could tell how much she missed her brothers and how their death affected her, causing her to have horrible nightmares of the explosion and knowing her brothers could not have survived.

Her loneliness and fear of someone figuring out she is a woman rules her life. This drastically changes when she meets Vaden. He also has a stubborn streak a mile long and immediately figured out she is a woman and her identity. I loved how the characters evolved through the story. Truly, I loved it.

I enjoyed the sex scenes as they are hot, but well done. The author used them to show how much they love each other and how strong their relationship is. There is one thing that I think could have been changed. They end up in bed almost as soon as they meet. I thought it would have been a good idea for them to get to know each other a little before they jumped into bed together.

I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend reading the others in the series as they are just as well-written. This is a wonderful love story that shows that although you can be strong, having a soft place to land is wonderful. It also shows family is everything.

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In Xanadu by Lavie Tidhar

November 22, 2019 By Leave a Comment


In Xanadu by Lavie Tidhar
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Length: Short Story (27 pages)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Security through physicality. Security through redundancy. Security through obscurity. How do immortal artificial intelligences defend themselves? With an air gap. With a security force that has no connection to anything that can harm them. With a young woman, trained to fight and to die who, along with her cohort must keep them safe. But In Xanadu things don’t always go as planned…

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This was a good example of how to combine science fiction with an adventurous plot. Much of the storyline was tied up in showing what happened after Nila, the protagonist, got her deepest wish and had a day at work that was anything but ordinary. It was so interesting to see how this high tech vision of humanity’s distant future intersected with the sort of action scenes that were so similar to what some soldiers experience today.

I was disappointed by the ending. The beginning and middle were fast-paced and exciting, so it was surprising to see how quickly the final scene faded away. While I don’t necessarily expect every question to be answered, especially in cases like these where it seems like the writer might have a sequel in mind, there were a lot of loose threads left dangling. It would have been nice to see at least a few of them tied up in the end.

The world building was well done. I honestly thought I’d accidentally fallen into the middle of series when I started reading this tale because of how much detail was woven into the plot about the militaristic society that Nila lived in and how it had been created. Figuring out that this seemed to be the first and so far only take on these characters only made me more impressed. So much effort had been put into thinking through all sorts of little things that added up to a complex and fascinating setting.

In Xanadu was a wild ride. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys action-packed science fiction.

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