Clean Read Book Review- Eventide

09 Jul, 2012 by in Shadow Mountain, Tracy and Laura Hickman 1 comment

Eventide (Tales of the Dragon’s Bard #1)
by Tracy and Laura Hickman
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published June 5, 2012
by Shadow Mountain
ISBN: 1609088972
Book Source: Publisher
4 Stars
Summary from Goodreads: Jarod Klum was trapped in his small life in the small village of Eventide and saw no means of escape. He would never be worthy of the woman of his dreams, never achieve great deeds of valor and never be remembered in song or story. He would spend every day very much the same as the days of his apprenticeship in the village counting house tallying other people’s coins acquired from other people’s wealth garnered from other people’s deeds until his never-exceptional life came to a never-exceptional end.

It wasn’t that he was without dreams. He dreamed them every night; of rescuing the imperiled Caprice Morgan from some terrible rampaging monster or of protecting the virtuous Caprice Morgan from marauding pirates who had somehow come up the river or of returning from a great Quest beyond the village boundaries laden with treasure that he could lay at the feet of the appreciative Caprice Morgan.

But each morning he awoke in his straw bed and knew he was just Jarod Klum

Until, that is, the coming of the Dragon’s Bard.

Edvard the Just … Dragon’s Bard to the Dragonking Khrag … blew into Eventide on a late winter wind that some said he created out of his own seemingly inexhaustible supply of words. He swept up Jason with his words and turned the apprentice’s world upside down.

The Dragon’s Bard convinced Jarod to win his fair Caprice through ‘heroic deeds of a more manageable scale’ – setting Jarod on a course of misadventures that turns the town on its head. Jarod’s single-minded pursuit of his greatest wish – even if it is a broken one – escalates until the only thing left for him to do is to become a dragonslayer and save the town from a ferocious, legendary monster that everyone fears but no one has ever seen.

‘Eventide’ is brought to life through the stories of the interweaving lives of its citizen characters, their follies, joys, tragedies and triumphs on a scale of life to which we can all relate. In the end, it is a visit to a place where we ourselves would like to settle down and live out our lives as we should.
‘Eventide’ centers around Jarod Klum – a young apprentice to his father’s counting house – and his heart-sore pursuit of his beloved Caprice Morgan, one of three down-on-their-luck sisters who are struggling to keep a broken wishing well supplied with wishes. His attempts at heroics more often result in calamity and raise the ire of nearly the entire town, but with the help of the DragonBard, the kind friendship of the dwarven smithy and the guidance of a farmer with a mysterious past, Jarod will be victorious – even if it means luring a dragon into the town.

Cathy’s Review: Edvard the Just is a humble Dragon’s Bard, one day he was captured by a Dragon King, Khrag, and taken to his lair. Just as the dragon was about to eat him, Edvard mentioned that he could tell the dragon stories. Khrag just happens to love to hear stories and was more than willing to allow Edvard to live to hear those stories. But, Edvard runs out of stories to tell eventually, as we all would, and Khrag can’t eat him, because he’s very skinny from telling the dragon stories for such a long time. Edvard convinces Khrag that he can go and find him some stories from the countryside and Khrag, desperate for more stories agrees to allow Edvard to go. Edvard starts his journey in Eventide a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business, it’s a town plagued with pixies and full of crazy characters. Jarod Klum is a young man with a dream, a dream of winning his love…Caprice Morgan. Caprice is a wish-woman, one of three sisters in charge of the town’s broken wishing well, worried about her widowed and heartbroken father. There are also gnomes, a centaur farmer with a secret, and a Gossip Fairy and a Priest with no idea which of the Gods the townspeople want him to help them worship. This crazy cast of characters will keep you laughing!

I had kind of a hard time getting into this book. I’m not really sure why, maybe part of it is just that it’s kind of hard to tell whose point of view you are hearing the story from. You would kind of think it would mostly be from Edvard the Just, but he’s a pretty zany character by himself, and it’s pretty funny what the other characters think about him. But there are a lot of characters in this book and sometimes the point of view is from one and sometimes it’s from another one. Anyway, by the time I had gotten halfway into the book, I was really enjoying it. The characters are hilarious and they are very good at getting themselves into really funny sticky situations. I gave this book 4 stars because I did end up liking the plot and I can’t wait to see what Edvard does next!
Content: Clean

About the author: Tracy and Laura Hickman have been writing science fiction and fantasy professionally for over a quarter of a century. Tracy is the New York Times Best-selling author of ‘Dragonlance’, ‘The Death Gate Cycle’ and ‘Dragonships’ (with Margaret Weis) as well as the upcoming ‘Drakis’ trilogy and ‘The Immortals.’ Laura is the author of ‘The Bronze Canticles Trilogy’ and the original ‘Ravenloft’ adventure game (with Tracy).

Learn more about authors Tracy and Laura Hickman: Goodreads/ Website/ facebook/ Blog

Giveaway Winners

06 Jul, 2012 by in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Congratulations Sandy R and Emily F who each won a copy of Mormons: An Open Book,  Molly Frenzel who won Morganville Vampires and Mark Hom who won Ten Things We Did on our Facebook page.

Please email us your mailing address and we will send out your books!

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The Kindling Book Preview and Giveaway

05 Jul, 2012 by in middle grade books 7 comments

The Kindling
by Braden Bell
Paperback, 304 pages
Expected Publication Date: July 10, 2012
by Cedar Fort, Inc
ISBN: 9781462110278
Book Source: Publisher
5 Stars
Summary from Goodreads: All thirteen-year-old Conner Dell wants to do is pass pre-algebra, play lacrosse, and possibly kiss Melanie Stephens. He didn’t mean to set anyone’s gym shorts on fire or make school lunches explode. But now that the strange powers inside him have been ignited, Conner’s normal teenage life is about to go up in flames! 

This fast-paced novel is non-stop fun for kids and parents alike. With characters you can’t help but root for, a plot that keeps you guessing, and plenty of humor, it’s a guaranteed thrill ride from cover to cover!
Cathy’s Review: Thirteen-year-olds, Conner and Lexa Dell and their friend Melanie Stephens thought that they were normal teenagers, then strange things started happening. Things like middle school bullies pants starting on fire in the middle of gym class and the lights flickering on and off when they are upset or excited. These things seemed a little strange, but then Conner, Lexa and Melanie started noticing other things. There was a huge storm one night and Lexa and Melanie saw a strange man dressed in black, but no one else seemed to and that man in black seemed to have killed all the dogs in the neighborhood…at exactly the same time. Then there are their teachers at school, one of them is always around, even for things like trips to the office for a band-aid or to the bathroom. Weird! Then one day, everything seems to go wrong, each of the three friends earn 7 demerits in one day and all receive detention, which makes their parents furious. None of the three want to attend detention, so they decide to make a run for it and ditch detention…really bad plan. As they are trying to ditch detention in two different places, the kids are attacked by more people dressed in black, luckily they are being pursued by their teachers and the teachers are able to protect them. But they quickly learn that they have “Kindled” they are Magi, able to use light to fight darkness, but they’re only kids. How can they be normal kids and also Magi?

This book was amazing. I loved the engaging plot. I wanted to find out just what was going to happen next and the plot kept me guessing too. I enjoyed the characters, they seemed real to me, and I cared about what happened to them. I love this book, I think that this book will be an amazing book for kids to read, I can’t wait to read more of this series!

Content: Clean

About the author: Braden Bell earned  a Ph.D. in educational theatre from New York University. He and his family live on a quiet, wooded lot in Tennessee, where he teaches theatre and music at a private middle school–the world described in The Kindling (whether his evenings and weekends are spent fighting evil is something he cannot disclose). An experienced performer, Braden enjoys singing, acting, reading, gardening,  and long walks with the dog. 
Learn more about author Braden Bell: Goodreads/ facebook/ Website 
Click here to view the book trailers and here to get a special price on The Kindling at 9.99
The Giveaway: Fire and Ice is giving away one copy of The Kindling by Braden Bell courtesy of the author and publisher, Cedar Fort Books. Entries are optional, choose your options below in the rafflecopter form and good luck!

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YA Book Review- I Hunt Killers

03 Jul, 2012 by in Uncategorized 2 comments

I Hunt Killers
by Barry Lyga
Hardcover; 368 pages
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316125849
Book Source: Publisher
5 stars
Summary From Amazon.com: What if the world’s worst serial killer…was your dad?
Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he’s also the son of the world’s most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could–from the criminal’s point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo’s Nod.
Danielle’s Review: The best serial murdering novel I’ve read since my Patricia Cornwell phase, I Hunt Killers is a phenomenal addition to the forensic crime genre with one little twist: it’s in the young adult genre.

Seventeen-year-old Jasper Dent is the son of a notorious serial killer who’s trying to live a normal life while his father rots in prison. When a copycat murderer comes to town, Jasper must convince the local sheriff that they can work together and stop the bloodshed. Trust doesn’t come easy with Jasper’s background, but he has his best friend, Howie, and girlfriend, Connie, to keep him grounded.

I found Jasper’s development and point of view riveting as he struggled against inner fears of turning out like his father. His dark humor and desperate groping for salvation only makes him human. The plot moves quickly yet delves into Jasper’s backstory and psyche, which I loved. There are plenty of suspects to choose from, so I was happy when the story resolved without the most predictable character as the solution.

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve read a book that I could not put it down but I Hunt Killers takes off from the very beginning and is so absorbing it can’t be put away until the last page is sucked down. In my personal opinion, the graphic nature and language in this thriller is over the top for the young adult genre, but I do recommend it to any CSI lovers over eighteen.

Content: Graphic violence, sexual references

Danielle Thorne

About the Author: Barry Lyga is a recovering comic book geek. When he was a kid, everyone told him that comic books were garbage and would rot his brain, but he had the last laugh. Raised on a steady diet of comics, he worked in the comic book industry for ten years, but now writes full-time because, well, wouldn’t you? The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl was his first novel.

Learn more at http://www.barrylyga.com/

Book Review- The Guardians of Elijah’s Fire

02 Jul, 2012 by in youth fiction Leave a comment

The Guardians of Elijah’s Fire
by Frank L Cole
Paperback, 272 pages
Published June 12, 2012
by Cedar Fort, Inc
ISBN: 1462110576
Book Source: Netgalley
4.5 stars
Book Summary from Goodreads: Just when they thought they were safe, Amber Trendon, and their classmates get yanked back into the action. With the Tebah Stick in enemy hands, Amber becomes a target, and it seems even her closest allies can’t be trusted. Now the gang will have to travel through enemy territory to protect a deadly ancient weapon that could cause the earth’s utter destruction.

This thrilling tale ups the action and doubles the danger. Bestselling author Frank L. Cole delivers an addicting read for adventurers of all ages.
Cathy’s Review: Things have settled down for Amber since her last adventure. She still thinks about Joseph and Dorothy occasionally, but she has other things going on, like school, homework and her very important 15th birthday. She cleans all of her birthday wishes out of her mailbox and finds a package with two very old, very important looking leather-bound books. Upon closer inspection, Amber realizes that they are the first and second Books of Kings from the Bible. She’s a bit perplexed, but just figures that Dorothy has sent them to her. She gets ready for bed and goes to sleep, only to wake to yet another nightmare of the creatures that she found in the cave as she searched for the hidden scepter, and a mysterious phone call from Joseph, warning her yet again about Dorothy. Dorothy can’t be as bad as Joseph says he is, is she? Amber doesn’t think so, but she is beginning to have her doubts. Things get really crazy the next day as Amber, Lisa and Trendon meet for dinner at a popular burger place, but their dinner is interrupted by what appears at first glance to be your basic robbery, until the robbers only want to take Amber and Joseph’s crazy uncle Jasher shows up as well. Just who can Trendon, Amber and Lisa trust to protect them from the threats that seem to appear on all sides?

I really enjoyed reading this book. The story line is packed with action and adventure from beginning to end. Amber is quite a smart character, I really enjoyed the way that you couldn’t tell until the very end who was lying and who was telling the truth. I think that this was a fun book for all ages!
Content: Clean

About the author: Frank L. Cole has lived in such exotic places as the Philippines and Kentucky, and currently lives with his wife and three children out west. While he strived for years to earn his publishing credits, Frank considers sharing his message of “Exercising Your Imagination” to over 30,000 kids across the country as his greatest accomplishment. The Guardians of Elijah’s Fire is Frank’s 5th published book and will release this June, 2012. You can learn more about his writing at franklewiscole.blogspot.com.
Find out more about author Frank L Cole Goodreads/ Blog/ Website/ Twitter

Star Fire Blog Tour and Prize Pack Giveaway

30 Jun, 2012 by in Uncategorized 8 comments

Happy Book Release Day to Star Fire,  book 3 of the Knight Trilogy by Katie M. John. To celebrate Fire and Ice is offering a huge prize package in connection with the author and Megan at Reading Away The Days.
Book Summary: Egypt changed them both in ways no one ever expected. As murder and dark arts cast a terrible shadow over both The Real World and The Realm. Mina’s connection to the mysterious Star Fire Sisterhood results in her becoming The Templar’s number one suspect.

Set amongst the snowy mountains of Switzerland and the ancient magical forests of France, Blake and the House of Beldevier are given just one chance to save Mina’s life – the recovery of The Holy Grail.

In this epic heart-racing finale, ancient myths come alive and old scores are settled. One thing for sure … the clock is ticking.
Katie’s Bio:  Writer of the Amazon Best-selling YA series, The Knight Trilogy, Katie is married to a handsome giant and mummy to a mud-puddle fairy. She likes to write whilst drinking tea and eating jaffa cakes. Most of the time she lives in a fairytale world but other than that she is completely and utterly normal.
Katie’s debut YA fairtytale series, ‘The Knight Trilogy’ has become an international best-seller in several chart categories, Contemporary Fantasy, Myths and Legends, Paranormal Romance. It has also been an Amazon No 1. Best-selling Fairytale.
Her work is a blend of rich imagery and fast paced action. Before writing full length novels, Katie wrote poetry, her works being published in several anthology publications.
She is currently working on a stand alone novel called ‘Beautiful Freaks’ due to be published in Autumn 2012. A high Victorian, Gothic, Steampunk style detective story.
Learn more on her website/ twitter/ blog/ amazon
The giveaway: We are offering an awesome swag pack to one of our readers and this giveaway is open internationally.
2 Ebook set of the trilogy via smash words which is suitable for all ereaders. The set will include, Book one (The Forest of Adventures), Book two (Immortal Beloved) & Book three (Star Fire)

1 Forest of the Adventures signed postcard

1 Immortal Beloved signed postcard

1 star fire signed postcard

3 Knight Trilogy Magnets

1 tote bag
1 handmade metal book thongs with charms

To enter to win choose your own entries in the rafflecopter form below

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Ebook Review- Prince Charming Must Die

29 Jun, 2012 by in young adult fiction Leave a comment

Prince Charming Must Die
by Isabella Fontaine and Ken Brosky
Kindle edition, 91 pages
Published April 2010
by Brew City Press
A Sin: B007V4JAO0
Book Source: Author
Summary from Goodreads: On the eve of her 18th birthday, high school junior Alice Goodenough feels on top of the world. Classes are almost finished. She’s about to start her summer job at the local library, where she’ll be surrounded by all of her favorite books. And she has a wonderful boyfriend.

Then the rabbit shows up. The giant talking rabbit. He has a message:

200 years ago, the Brothers Grimm unleashed their stories upon the world.
Literally.

With the help of a magic pen and paper, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm brought all of their characters to life. The world was a more magical place … for a time. Cinderella found her prince. Briar Rose’s spell was broken. The dancing princesses spent their nights hidden away in a secret underground city. The old miller’s boy found true love.

Then, slowly, the Grimms’ characters began to change for the worse. They became Corrupted. Evil. They didn’t belong in our world, but it was too late for the Brothers Grimm to destroy them.

Only a hero can save the day. Every generation for the past 200 years, a hero has been chosen to fight the Corrupted and rid the world of the Grimms’ fairy tales. To her horror, Alice has been chosen as the next hero. As her 18th birthday nears, she begins to realize life is never going back to normal. School will never be the same. 

As for her boyfriend, Edward … well, he might be hiding a terrible secret.

Cathy’s review: Alice is almost 18, she has an amazing boyfriend, Edward, she loves to fence and she has a perfect volunteer job working in the library. Plus school’s almost over…what could go wrong? Plenty. On her first day at her library job she is asked to shelve an old book downstairs in the basement. In the basement she finds old books, a really old pen and a note… addressed to her, who could have known she would be down there? The note tells her to draw a door and not to forget the handle. This door opens to a room, where Alice finds a snake and another note telling her to kill it. The snake slithers away, and as it does it grows bigger. Alice uses the only weapon she has, the old pen, to stab the snake and that’s when the rabbit appears. Telling her a wild story about the Brothers Grimm’s stories, the characters become real and then they become corrupted. After they are corrupted, they need a hero, Alice, to kill them, so they can’t hurt anyone else. Alice quickly learns how to find the characters, but she’s not so sure she wants to kill them. Meanwhile, her “perfect” boyfriend has a secret of his own.

This book was just okay for me. I didn’t connect with the characters really. The story line is quite short, that might be part of why I didn’t connect with the characters, and the story seems quite rushed. There’s not really enough time to get to “know” them. I like to know my characters so that I can care what happens to them. 

Content: Sexual references, teenage drinking

Mary’s Review: Alice is head over heals in love with Edward the new boy at school. He’s the most handsome boy any girl has ever seen and out of every girl in school to choose from he has chosen her. Has told her she is his soul mate. She also gets her dream job working in the library for the summer. How could she get so lucky?

But just when she thinks everything is perfect, she meets a giant talking rabbit who claims to be Briar Rabbit. That’s right. Straight from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. He tells her she is a “hero” and has been chosen to kill the Corrupted. Who are the Corrupted? What is a “hero”? Is Alice going crazy? This is where the adventure begins.

This is a great read and book 1 of the Grimm’s Chronicles series.

I recommend this for young adults ages 16 and up. It contains mild profanity and mild intimacy content not suitable for younger children.

About the authors: Isabella Fontaine lives a quiet life on a farm in rural Wisconsin. She enjoys reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales and writing on a typewriter, which annoys her cats. This is her first book collection.

Ken Brosky received his MFA from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He’s written a number of books and regularly publishes short stories. He also helps out at Brew City Press whenever possible. This is his first young adult collection.
Find out more about authors: Goodreads/ Website