Saturday, March 28, 2020

#BookReview: Daughter from the Dark by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko, Julia Meitov Hersey






Synopsis: In this extraordinary stand-alone novel, the authors and translator of Vita Nostra—a "dark Harry Potter on steroids with a hefty dose of metaphysics" (award-winning author Aliette de Bodard)—return with a story about creation, music, and companionship filled with their hallmark elements of subtle magic and fantasy.

Late one night, fate brings together DJ Aspirin and ten-year-old Alyona. After he tries to save her from imminent danger, she ends up at his apartment. But in the morning sinister doubts set in. Who is Alyona? A young con artist? A plant for a nefarious blackmailer? Or perhaps a long-lost daughter Aspirin never knew existed? Whoever this mysterious girl is, she now refuses to leave.

A game of cat-and-mouse has begun.

Claiming that she is a musical prodigy, Alyona insists she must play a complicated violin piece to find her brother. Confused and wary, Aspirin knows one thing: he wants her out of his apartment and his life. Yet every attempt to get rid of her is thwarted by an unusual protector: her plush teddy bear that may just transform into a fearsome monster.

Alyona tells Aspirin that if he would just allow her do her work, she’ll leave him—and this world. He can then return to the shallow life he led before her. But as outside forces begin to coalesce, threatening to finally separate them, Aspirin makes a startling discovery about himself and this ethereal, eerie child. 

#BookReview: The Old Religion (Tom Killgannon #1) by Martyn Waites






Synopsis: The Cornish village of St. Petroc is the sort of place where people come to hide. Tom Killgannon is one such person. An ex-undercover cop, Tom is in the Witness Protection Program hiding from some very violent people, and St. Petroc's offers him a chance to live a safe and quiet life.

Until he meets Lila. Lila is a seventeen-year-old runaway. When she breaks into Tom's house, she takes more than just his money. His wallet holds everything about his new identity. He also knows that Lila is in danger from the travelers' commune she has been living at. Something sinister has been going on there, and Lila knows more than she realizes. But to find her, he risks not only giving away his location to the gangs he's in hiding from but also becoming a target for whoever is hunting Lila.

#BookReview: Dylan McFinn & The Sea Serpent's Fury Liam Jenkins






Synopsis: “Dylan sat gazing out of his classroom window, waiting for the bell to ring. He was watching seahorses playing in the reeds of sea kelp swaying in the gentle current … and not paying any attention at all to the maths lesson that was continuing outside of his daydream. “Pssst … psst,” Dylan heard behind him. 

Murdoch passed a note forward. Dylan quickly grabbed it and opened it under his desk without Mrs Pike-Teeth seeing it.

It read, Happy birthday Bubble Boy!”

Dylan McFinn is an ordinary twelve-year-old. Ordinary, that is, if you ignore the fact that he lives deep under the Pacific Ocean with his family The McFinn’s.

As he battles monsters and maelstroms on his first day as a teenager, Dylan discovers that he can be an awful lot more than he imagines and a nostalgic trip to the past was more than just a rite of passage. It was a passage to his destiny.
  

Friday, March 27, 2020

#BookReview: She's So Cold: Murder, Accusations and the System that Devasted a Family by Donald E McInnis






Synopsis: Think this couldn’t happen to your family? Think again. 


In the winter of January 1998, the small town of Escondido, California, was horrified when the body of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe was found brutally murdered in her own bedroom. The police used psychological manipulation to force three 14-year-old boys to falsely confess to the murder. She’s So Cold traces s\the twists and turns of a real-life mystery which eventually changed the lives of fifteen people and cost a district attorney his job.


To protect children and teens from such manipulation in the future, McInnis proposes a new Children’s Miranda Rights Warning and a Bill of Rights for Children who are being questioned as suspects. These proposals must be adopted in order to prevent minors from making false confessions that could destroy their futures.


She’s So Cold is the story of a broken system. A system stacked against families and, most of all, against children.
 

#BookReview: Dark Consort (The Dark Dreamer Trilogy, #2) by @AmberR_Duell


Synopsis: Nora has faced the horrors of the Nightmare Realm and put a stop to the Weaver. But the girl that went in isn’t the same one who has come out. Now, as the Lady of Nightmares, Nora’s next passage to the Night World will be permanent. Months in the Day World have already taken their toll on her new identity. Her body aches from the strain of magic and her mind is tormented by a powerful darkness. The only thing holding her together is the thought of returning to the place that beckons her as much as it terrifies her.

The Sandman knows Nora needs to return to her realm, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. Especially when he sees firsthand what happened in the Nightmare Realm since she left. Not only have the nightmares become restless, but Rowan stole the Weaver’s Keep and is gathering an army strong enough to rip the magic from Nora so she can dominate the realm. If the Sandman can put off the inevitable for a few more days, he will.

When Nora finds her own way back to the Nightmare Realm, her relationship with the Sandman stretches thin, but there isn’t time to dwell on hurt feelings. Not when she’s delivered straight to Kail, the masked nightmare that got her into this mess. Unfortunately, her allies are too few and Kail’s desire for Rowan’s death seems to burn as brightly as her own. Nora must decide whom to trust if she wants to survive the Nightmare Realm. And, if she wants to reclaim what’s hers, she must embrace the darkness within.

#AuthorChat today at 6pm EST with @AmberR_Duell




Join us today at 6pm for #AuthorChat with one of my favorite authors! Amber R. Duell has written this amazing thrilling story about the Sandman and his Dreamer and I could not put them down!! So join us today on instagram for a live q and a!