Book review: Shield: Allie's War by J.C. Andrijeski

Book Blurb:
Grappling with her identity as "Bridge," a being thought to herald the end of humanity, isn't even Allie's biggest problem. She's also dealing with being married to a seer while trying to stop the Rook she put in the White House from starting a war. Then the boy appears. A highly dangerous telekinetic seer, he doesn't appear to have aged in over 100 years. Worse, he thinks Allie belongs to him.

My review:
It's been over a year since I read the first book in this series - you can check out that review here. Shield is the sequel to Rook, both in the Allie's War series. It is a complicated, sophisticated, continuance of the story of Allie, a seer who was raised as human, and her seer husband, Revik. While I found it

I've Stowed Away!

I have become a stowaway aboard the UFO that has abducted my heroine in Lifeboat. 

Click here and you can eavesdrop as I tell the Cabin Goddess all about it. You can enter to win a copy of my ebook too!

Unexplained Fascination

I am not quite a conspiracy theorist, but I am thoroughly fascinated by the unexplained, and love ideas of legend. This post is inspired by a thread I read on a message board, which is primarily geared toward women, last night about Tinfoil Hat Conspiracies.

There were a ton of conspiracies mentioned over topics ranging from 9/11, to the American economy and education systems, to UFOs.

It got me thinking. Some of the things I find intriguing in this life are Big Foot, The Loch Ness Monster, and UFOs. Although I cannot say with any degree of certainty these things exist, no one has yet convinced me that they definitively do not exist.

But my biggest fascination is unexplained disappearances.

Amelia Earhart's disappearance on her final flight. The Flight 19 disappearance off the coast of Florida. The Valentich disappearance.  The lost city of Atlantis. And nearly anything involving the Bermuda Triangle. Although theories abound regarding all of these things, and some would say they have been solved, none have with any degree of proof.

Where, you might ask, am I going with this?

Launch the Lifeboat! It is here!

I'm so excited.

The time has come to launch my Lifeboat!

The ride has been a roller coaster, but I think it will be worth it.

My novel is now available for purchase in eBook format.

Click here to get your copy at Amazon, and Amazon UK,  in Kindle format, or at Smashwords in any eBook format.

If you are new to my blog, you can also click the Lifeboat tab above to read the blurb, and find the book trailer link.

If you read it, please come back and tell me what you think. If you are interested in reviewing it, message me for a review copy. 

Pre-launch Jitters - It's nearly time!

If you are a faithful reader of my blog, you will know that I have been working on my debut novel - Lifeboat - for some time now.

It is nearly ready for launch! Only a few more short days.

I am elated.

I am terrified.

I feel like an arrow, pulled back and ready to soar into something big.

I've borrowed that line from Cass, my heroine in Lifeboat. It feels appropriate.

I could fly into a wonderful new adventure. Or I could fail, dismally.

Either way, for better or for worse, Lifeboat is on its way.

Wish me luck?

Purple Roads by Fleur McDonald

Book Blurb:

When Anna and Matt finally buy their dream farm, their struggles aren’t quite over. First it’s patchy rain and poor crops, then Matt has an accident … and even when the heavens finally open all might yet be lost. An exciting new novel full of romance and mystery from the author of the bestselling Red Dust and Blue Skies.

Anna and Matt Butler were childhood sweethearts with a dream of owning their own land, a dream they achieved through hard work and determination.

But as the seasons conspire against them and Matt is involved in a terrible accident, the couple face financial ruin and the loss of their farm.

The Perk by Mark Gimenez

Book Blurb:

Beck Hardin, a high-profile Chicago trial lawyer, loses his wife to breast cancer and is left alone to raise their two young children. But he's been a full-time lawyer and a part-time father, so their lives soon fall apart. To save his children, he returns to his small hometown in the Texas Hill Country, reunites with his estranged father (a goat rancher turned winemaker), and soon becomes the local judge. He finds himself trying to pay off an old debt by solving the cold case murder of his high school buddy's teenage daughter—and discovers that a small-town judge's life isn't such a simple life.

Interview regarding my book, Lifeboat!

My gorgeous and talented friend, author Rhiannon Douglas has interviewed me on my thoughts regarding my novel, Lifeboat. You really should read it.

Click here to read the interview.

Pompomberry House by Rosen Trevithick

Book Blurb:

A writer's retreat seemed the perfect chance for Dee Whittaker to take her mind off her marital difficulties.

However, she meets five of the most hideous writers ever to have mastered a qwerty keyboard, and her problems quickly multiply. Things escalate further when the handyman winds up dead.

After fleeing from the island, Dee attempts to get her life back on track but begins to notice that something strange is going on. The stories written on the island are coming true and hers is next - complete with a murder.

Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney

Book Blurb:
Magic can happen in every family

At the Valley View Motel in South Australia's picturesque Clare Valley, eighty-four-year-old Lola Quinlan is up to her usual mischief. She's sent her family away for Christmas and invited a number of mystery guests to come and stay. But who are all these people, and why aren't they spending the festive season with their own loved ones?

As the big day draws closer and Lola's personal family dramas threaten to unravel her plans, she discovers that at a special time of year, magic can happen in every family – especially your own.

How Do You Like Your Heroine?

I love to read stories that have strong female leading characters. Women that can kick butt and stand up for themselves and those they love.Woman of courage and conviction.

I love when they are strong, not just physically, but emotionally as well. I'm not saying they have to be perfect, or that they can't have moments of vulnerability or weaknesses. This is, after all, what makes them human.

As much as I love these kinds of female leads they don't seem to be what my female leads are in the fiction that I write. Cass in Lifeboat is a survivor, but she's been shattered and has had to be emotionally glued back together. She is a fighter, but she's fragile too.

Book review of Wool Omnibus (Wool #1-5) by Hugh Howey

Book Blurb:
This Omnibus Edition collects the five Wool books into a single volume. It is for those who arrived late to the party and who wish to save a dollar or two while picking up the same stories in a single package.

The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months. My thanks go out to those reviewers who clamored for more. Without you, none of this would exist. Your demand created this as much as I did.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

When Can You Say You're an Author?

I've been tossing that word around on a few different websites with regard to myself for a month or two now. I put it on my Facebook page. I updated my header here to indicate I am one, because I have written this book.

But when can you say it and feel like it's true? Because even though I've written a book now, it doesn't feel real. The closest it has come to feeling real is when I revealed my book cover a few weeks ago. That day I was overwhelmed with the feeling that this was becoming true.

Brand Spankin' New Lifeboat Book Trailer!

As you all know I've been working hard getting Lifeboat ready for it's debut in May 2013. 

While you are waiting for it's release I thought I'd give you a little preview. I hope you enjoy my book trailer.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think? Are you intrigued?

Click here to see the trailer*.

*Do to an agreement with the band who gave me permission to use their song in my trailer I can't embed the trailer here, but must instead direct you to it's Youtube location. :)

Book Review - Force of Habit by Alice Loweecey

Book Blurb:

Giulia Falcone is convinced she's going to Hell. First, because she left the convent. Second, her new job with a private investigator has her sneaking around and lying. Adjusting to life in the outside world isn't easy. Makeup, dating, and sex are all new to her. And despite a crush on her boss Frank Driscoll--a foul-mouthed, soft-hearted ex-cop--Giulia is sure he'd never fall for an ex-nun.

Her first case involves drop-dead handsome Blake Parker, a man with immense wealth and an ego to match. He and his fiancee are getting disturbing "gifts" with messages based on biblical verses. When Giulia is drawn into the stalker's twisted game, salacious photos of her appear, threatening her job and her friendship with Frank. No one imagines--least of all naive Giulia--the danger ahead, when following the clues turns into a fight for her life.

Book one in the dangerously habit-forming Falcone & Driscoll Investigation series.