The Illusions of Eventide by Sarah M Cradit #review

Title: The Illusions of Eventide (The House of Crimson & Clover #2)
Author: Sarah M Cradit, 2013

At a glance, The Illusions of Eventide by Sarah M Cradit is exactly the kind of book I enjoy reading – it is set in the American South and is flavoured with aeons-long conflict involving a race of immortal beings.

No, not vampires, as one would immediately suspect, but Empyreans, which I would best describe as somewhat angelic, rather. We get to explore their world through the eyes of Mercy, who is at the end of her allotted life span of around three thousand years and who is preparing to “ascend” to her Father Emir.

From what I can gather, the Empyrean race subscribes to a fervent belief system that sees them succumb at a preordained time – and Mercy is particularly devoted to her faith.

We also meet the human Nicolas Deschanel, who is the disaffected, self-absorbed heir to a family fortune, and much like Mercy, his life no longer holds meaning to him; he has secluded himself so that he may take his own life. That is until his discovery of Mercy trespassing on his land, which bollockses up his plans.

Other, somewhat secondary characters are the apostate Empyrean Aidrik, who has been keeping a watchful eye over Mercy for quite a long time, and Nicolas’s cousin Anasofiya, who is running away from herself, though she’s not quite that self aware.

Things come to a head at the old family plantation house, and much will be revealed of the Deschanel family past (and why they’re all so damned peculiar) and the machinations within the Empyrean race.

My main feeling after completing this novel was that although Cradit’s writing is detailed and rich, the progression of the narrative was a little too slow for my liking. She offers a glimpse into a fascinating world, but most of the action takes place in the last few chapters, and even then, the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. I finished reading with the sense that I’d just gotten through a quantity of back story.

That being said, it’s clear from existing reviews that this is just the sort of thing Cradit’s readers love about this book, and if you’re already invested in the characters, then the slow pace will not provide an obstacle to your enjoyment. Since I came in from the cold (this was offered as a review copy) I struggled to relate to the characters, and I suspect that many of the story’s nuances were lost on me for not having read earlier works.

Those who do, however, enjoy a gradually unfolding family saga filled with supernatural elements (and here I’m casually going to toss in a reference to Anne Rice’s Mayfair witches) then The House of Crimson & Clover series might just bite you in the right spot.

Enchantment by Charlotte Abel #review

Title: Enchantment
Author: Charlotte Abel
Published: Charlotte Abel, 2011

From the outset, this novel seems exactly as the name suggests. I found myself hooked and enchanted by the premise. After all, what could be more adorable than secret clans of mages in the Ozarks?

Each mage has a name that they live up to. Channie is short for Enchantment, and predictably the boys find her irresistible. But she doesn’t want to end up like her sister, Abundance, who’s ended up with unexpected triplets, so her parents are naturally a bit careful when it comes to Channie and boys.

But with a father whose name is Money, the family runs into trouble when Money gets on the wrong side of a rival mage clan who declare a blood feud, and Channie and her family run all the way to Colorado to escape the folks hunting them.

Now Channie needs to adapt to “Empty” society. (Empties is the term they use to describe non-magical people.) Of course being delightfully naïve when it comes to contemporary culture, Channie finds herself at the butt of jokes. To make things worse, her parents change her magical name to Chastity in an effort to protect her from the predations of the male species. This naturally leads to plenty of complications, especially since she finds herself falling deeply and irrevocably in love with a boy named Joshua.

As soon as she tries to fix one thing, another goes wrong, and step by step Channie finds herself in a deeper bind than before. Very soon she’s in a bit of a mad rush against time to undo a curse and be with the boy she loves.

My overall impression was that this is a fun YA contemporary fantasy novel. The kids do all the mad, bad crazy stuff you could imagine, and they face all the usual issues teens do – mostly related to their relationships with each other and their parents. Not an easy time. So Charlotte Abel’s done a good job expressing that discomfort.

Technically, I feel this novel could have used a tighter edit; my inner editor got twitchy with a whole lot of little quirks, so I feel this needs to be mentioned. Developmentally the pace is a little uneven as well. A little too much teen fooling around and not enough getting on with the story, but then again, that could just be my opinion.

If I have to think of someone to recommend this to, I’d say there’s a chance that the Cassandra Claire and Harry Potter tribes might take the bait. I’m of two minds as to whether I’ll go for the rest in the series, but that’s mainly because I don’t feel fully invested in the characters or the settings. Fault definitely lies with the reader. This is a fun, magical read otherwise.

Trancehack with Sonya Clark - Cover reveal

Some of you might already know that Sonya Clark, one of the authors with whom I've worked, has a new book releasing in October via Carina Press entitled Trancehack. It's the first book in the Magic Born series, and it's a futuristic paranormal romance witchpunk yarn. Her publisher says, "Forbidden romance and illicit magic in cyberspace are a combustible mix that will shake up, break up, and perhaps ultimately save a dark future world where Magic Born witches have no rights and Normals have been cowed by fear into giving up many of theirs. In the sprawling city of New Corinth, the two sides will come together, crossing boundaries and risking it all for love and their shared future."

Yup, it sounds fabulous, if you ask me, and I can't wait to read it.

So, here's the blurb:
It’s 2065. Those born with magic abilities live in government-run zones, without rights or freedoms. Fear of magic created this segregated world and fear keeps it intact.
A high-profile murder brings Detective Nathan Perez to Magic Born Zone 13. He’s had little experience with the Magic Born and isn’t sure what to expect during his first encounter with a witch, but he never thought he’d be so drawn to her.

Trancehacker Calla Vesper uses magic to break into computers and aid the Magic Born underground. She has no interest in helping a cop, even if he is smoking-hot, but money’s tight and Nate offers a tidy amount for help navigating the Zone. Calla’s determined to keep it all business, but sparks start flying before the investigation even gets started.

When Calla’s trancehacking and Nathan’s investigation uncover a conspiracy, Calla becomes a target. Nate can protect her by keeping her role a secret—but then who will protect Nate?

So of course I had to hunt Sonya down so we could have a little Q&A. Welcome, Sonya! Tell us more about your two lead characters – why do you like them?

Magic Born witch Calla Vesper grew up in the zone, nicknamed Freaktown. The Magic Laws have shaped her existence but she’s worked hard to carve out the best life for herself she could. She’s smart, tough, and she’s a talented jewelry designer, something that allows her to make a bit better living than many other Magic Born. She’s also loyal and generous, spending much of her time and money helping with the underground. I think what I like best about Calla is her fearlessness - she’s not afraid to mouth off to authorities or take serious risks. Her biggest risk is getting involved with a Normal cop.

Detective Nate Perez is a good guy. He’s solid and dependable and believes in doing his job to the best of his abilities. He’s also fascinated by Calla, and by magic itself. He didn’t grow up in a city with a zone so this is new to him and he doesn’t harbor the prejudices many Normals have against the Magic Born. I like the fact that he wanted to get to know Calla for herself, rather than making assumptions based on stereotypes. I also like that when it came down to it, she was more important to him than his job.

Tell us more about the magic in your world.

There are two kinds of magic in this world. One is the more familiar type - glamours, enchantments, charms, things of that sort. Then there’s the secret kind, something that Calla and very few others can do - astral projection as a means of entering computer systems and cyberspace. Let me give you a bit of backstory on the world-building:

The Magic Born were revealed when hacktivists released documents showing that not only did governments know about them, but also used witches as agents in what came to be known as “black magic ops”. Most countries recovered from the shock but some fundamentalist places didn’t fare so well, the US being one of them. Mass killings of witches and people simply accused of witchcraft took place, until finally the government stepped in and offered a solution to stop the death and allay fears: the Magic Laws. Magic Born were sent to live in urban zones - urban because Normals believed magic to be related to nature. This was thought to be something that would weaken the Magic Born. By 2065, roughly fifty years after the Magic Born were revealed, some witches are displaying some decidedly urban-oriented magical abilities.

Why do you think magic wielders are feared? 

The first revelation of the existence of magic in this world wasn’t some kindly woman blending a good luck spell into a cup of tea, it was the existence of secret agents wielding terrifying magic at the behest of governments. Think about the type of rampant paranoia one can easily find by scratching the wrong corner of the internet, or striking up a conversation with the wrong relative. It wasn’t hard to imagine a situation where that got out of control. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are afraid of things they don’t understand, or things that they misunderstand.

What's stopped the magic wielders from rising against their unjust treatment? 

There’s a bit of backstory mentioned in the book that talks about a period of Magic Born terrorism. The overwhelming response to it is also mentioned. Basically, the Magic Born are greatly outnumbered, and they just want to survive. They’ve been through so much bloodshed already. They have the desire to change things, and certainly some skills to bring to affecting change, but they don’t have basic rights of citizenship like voting and legal emigration. What it would really take to change things is Normals deciding they’ve had enough of turning over their Magic Born children to live in zones.

I hear there are sequels in the works... Can you share more?

There’s a secondary character in Trancehack named Vadim, a witch who runs the notorious zone club called Sinsuality. The second book, which I’m working on now, is his story. He’s a fantastic character to write. His book will involve blackmail, a deeper look at the Magic Born underground, and worsening tensions between those in New Corinth who want to let go of old fears and those who use those fears to hold on to power. Book three will take a look at those “black magic ops” rumors, and also have rolling street battles and a desperate effort to change the course of history.

Make no mistake, though. For all the action and intrigue, forbidden love is at the heart of these stories. The right to be free and equal, the right to love and build a life with the person of your choosing - those ideals have inspired this trilogy from the beginning. And also some really cool ideas about mashing up magic and technology, like combining disco and industrial rock. ☺

TRANCEHACK will be released by Carina Press on October 28 and is now available for pre-order for Kindle and Nook. Find author Sonya Clark at her website, Twitter, and Facebook. Subscribe to her newsletter for updates. 

About the author:  Sonya Clark grew up a military brat and now lives in Tennessee with her husband and daughter. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance with a heavy helping of magic and lots of music for inspiration. Learn more at www.sonyaclark.net.

Outcast by Adrienne Kress #review

Title: Outcast
Author: Adrienne Kress
Publisher: Diversion Books, 2013

First off, Adrienne Kress has taken a trope that’s been done to death in YA fiction and recast it in a way that’s both fresh and quirky. This is not [yawn] *yet* another angel book.

Riley, who lives in a typical small town in the American South is your average teen girl. She does okay at school and has all the regular issues you’d expect. Except that the small town where she lives isn’t exactly normal. Once a year, on the same day, “angels” come down to take a select few young people. What makes it worse is that there’s a pastor at the head of a new church dedicated to these angels who’s convinced the townsfolk that it’s not just okay that this is happening, but that it’s an honour for them to be chosen.

But Riley’s having none of this. During the previous “angelic” raid, her best friend Chris was taken, and Riley’s not quite over his disappearance. So, naturally, when an angel pitches up in her parents’ yard, ostensibly to take her too, she’s more than just a little bit peeved. As it turns out she’s pretty handy with a shotgun too, and she shoots the angel in the face.

From there on in, things get interesting. When Riley goes to investigate, she finds no dead angel on the lawn but a young, hot and rather naked guy who’s still alive and unharmed. She does the most sensible thing (of course) by trussing him up and holding him hostage in the garden shed. The mysterious young man – aptly named Gabe – has no recollection of any angelic doings. In fact, he claims to be a local. The only problem is, he remembers the town as it was during the 1950s. Between the two of them they have a year until the next angelic visitation to unravel the mystery of the so-called angels and why they’ve been snatching people.

Overall, Kress keeps the story going with a healthy balance between typical teen angst of budding romances and the bigger picture. At times I did feel that Riley lost sight of her goals and gets lost in everyday issues, but Kress brings in little nudges to progress the plot where necessary. Characters are well-realised, the dialogue is often laugh-out-loud funny, and Kress delivers on a satisfying tale despite the amount of down time. Riley, in particular, stands out as a strong female protagonist in a genre riddled with vapid heroines; Outcast has none of the fatal pitfalls that mar other well-known stories in this genre. The dead-tree version of this might be a bit on the pricy side, but definitely consider this for your Kindle or preferred electronic reading device.

Amy Lee Burgess and The Wolf Within #guest

I never get enough of having Amy Lee Burgess over on my blog. While I may no longer be editing at Lyrical Press, I am still more than happy to beta-read Amy's writing, and am so pleased to see how well her The Wolf Within series is doing. Welcome, Amy!

Amy Lee Burgess

If you had to sum up the entire The Wolf Within series so far, what would you say to your potential readers? 

For centuries the Great Pack has existed hidden in plain sight from the Others, normal humans. The Great Pack, wolf shifters, live in packs both small and large, spread all over the world, but they are careful never to reveal themselves to people who cannot shift.

The Great Council, with the help of Regional Councils, rule the Great Pack and settle territory disputes, interpersonal problems, violence within packs and murder.

Constance Newcastle is a woman who has lost everything – her bond mates and her pack, and yet she is not beaten. She wants to find happiness again even though she is haunted by her past. Stanzie has been on her own for two years of self-imposed exile. Her pack believed she was drunk the night of the car accident that killed her bond mates, but she knows she wasn’t. When the invitation to attend the Great Gathering arrived, she didn’t have to think twice to know she would attend.

Liam Murphy was Alpha of the largest pack in the world, Mac Tire, when his pregnant bond mate fell down an office staircase and died. Consumed by guilt and grief, he left everything behind to grow vegetables in the back garden of a small cottage in Belfast until his former pack mates convinced him to attend the Great Gathering in Paris.

If not for Councilor Jason Allerton, one of the most powerful members of the Great Council, Murphy and Stanzie may never have met, but they did and that fateful meeting set off a series of events that included murder, intrigue, betrayal, conspiracy and maybe even love.

Each novel is a mystery which builds upon events that happened in previous books. Stanzie and Murphy become Jason Allerton’s Advisors and he sends them to investigate missing persons, strange occurrences in small packs, and conspiracy within the Great Pack.

As Stanzie and Murphy learn more about each other, they also come to know themselves.

Stanzie's personal growth has been amazing to watch. We begin with a very withdrawn woman who's reluctant to reach out to others, who faces so much judgment from her peers, to the Stanzie at present, who constantly finds herself in predicaments yet with the strength and resolution to work through it. Was this always your intention, or did you just let her bloom?

I did want to show Stanzie on a journey of self-discovery. She started out as a lonely woman cut off from her friends and family – desperate to belong again and has gradually rebuilt her life with the help her boss, Councilor Jason Allerton, her bond mate, Liam Murphy, and some pretty amazing friends and family she’s either met along the way or has reunited with after a period of estrangement.

One thing I knew I wanted was to make sure that Stanzie never got too bitter about the less than ideal circumstances of her life. I wanted her to always be willing to reach out, even if she got burned. But she’s taken over her own story at this point.  I’m finding out new things about her every book in the series. Oh, my God, the shoes. They have taken over.

Stanzie's and Murphy's relationship is, as always, not plain sailing, and in that sense its status always feels a bit ambiguous. As a tension-building device, this is excellent, keeping readers on their toes. Can you shed a little more light here? I gain the sense there's constantly a "happy for now" rather than "happily ever after" in store for Stanzie.

At first I had intended to write about two people who meet after losing the loves of their lives – how would that play out? Could they find love again together? Would the new love be more powerful or not as strong as the firs t time around?

So Murphy and Stanzie have both suffered tragic losses in their past (and along the way in the series) and their love is of the second chance flavor rather than the boy meets girl and live happily ever after sort.  I’m not sure I intended their relationship to be quite as ambiguous as it eventually became but that is where their characters led me.

Stanzie has a huge heart and I think she bends over backwards sometimes too much to accommodate Murphy’s insecurities when it comes to relationships.

Stanzie’s backstory with Grey and Elena has evolved so that everyone knows she was blissfully happy with her bond mates and it was rather like a fairy tale they were so happy.

Murphy’s story is darker and more complex and he has secrets about his relationship with Sorcha that Stanzie can’t even imagine. So he’s not as trusting as she is and yet he wants to give Stanzie everything but sometimes he doesn’t know how.

Each book they get a little closer only to have things blow up in their faces. I’m not sure they will ever have a happily ever after, but I hope that each book ends on a positive note, each one becoming a bit stronger and more confident.

We get a much-deeper glimpse into Pack dynamics with Inside Out. Some difficult scenes to write here too, I'm sure. Which scene did you struggle with? And the one that you enjoyed writing the most? 

There were a lot of scenes that were difficult to write in this one because Stanzie goes home to her birth pack, Mayflower, to help her cousin Faith, the current Alpha female, figure out what is wrong with the pack.  On the surface, the pack is fine, but beneath it is festering with a terrible secret. Stanzie is great at unearthing secrets which generally blow up in her face and sometimes become life threatening. The secret she uncovers in this book is not so much life-threatening, as life-altering. It changes everything.

So it was a difficult book to write because she has to confront her past and dredges up all sorts of old grudges and toxic mental sludge that she tries hard to overcome so she can work in the present. It was difficult to keep her as open and self-honest as I’ve tried to do in the past because she is just so bitter about aspects of her child- and young adulthood and I didn’t want her to come off as petulant child since she is thirty-two years old!

There was a scene I struggled with where Stanzie helps to initiate a young man’s wolf. In her world, people can only shift after they’ve had sex with other Pack members and they can’t shift until after puberty. So there’s a period of time in a young Pack member’s life between the ages of 17 and 20 usually, where an older member of the pack initiates the younger. Sounds sexy but I didn’t necessarily want it to be something only erotic, but also something honorable and sacred. The initiator was usually someone from the same pack who had been like an aunt or uncle or even a brother or sister and that can verge into incestuous if it’s not written right.

So Stanzie is asked to initiate a young man’s wolf. She used to babysit this young man when he was baby and a young child and so there was a delicate line I didn’t want to cross. Now in this novel Stanzie is in her thirties and the young man is twenty-one and they haven’t seen each other in ten years, but it was still a difficult scene to write. The most difficult sex scene I’ve ever written. The Great Pack doesn’t have the same cultural rules as the Others (regular humans) so they’ve been brought up with the notion that aunts and uncles become lovers when people grow up and can shift, and I wanted my readers to go on that journey with Stanzie and Alan and not get weirded out. I hope I succeeded.

The scene where Stanzie decides she will initiate Alan’s wolf is one of my favorites. She initially is against it because of her wolf. (Stanzie’s wolf is not like other Pack wolves. She’s very childish and obsessive – more wild than anyone else’s.) She is heartbroken she can’t help Alan – considering how brave he was to ask her with all the strange things going on in the Mayflower pack – but she turns him down.

The male Alpha of the pack, Scott, tries multiple times to get her agree to do it and offers to be there with his bond mate, Faith, during the actual shifting so that Stanzie’s wolf doesn’t have to guide Alan’s.

Scott Charest is probably my favorite character in this novel and the scene where Stanzie agrees to initiate Alan’s wolf illustrates why.  He is a great Alpha and yet he is also vulnerable too. The relationship he develops with Stanzie is one of my favorite plot lines in the book.

Here's your chance to tell readers what other reviewers have said: give us some quotes from reviewers who wax lyrical about your stories.

For Beneath the Skin: Long and Short Reviews says:

Ms. Burgess has written an amazing take on being Pack. From shifting abilities, to their history and even their future, I was captive and intrigued. I was in utter awe of her ability to expand on a well used subject matter and make it all her own. This is her first published novel and all I can say is WOW!! Her storytelling abilities are fantastic, the pace of the book was perfect and her continuity was spot on.

For Scratch the Surface: Night Owl Reviews says:

The way the relationship between Liam and Constance grew throughout the story was done brilliantly as was how they were both able to move forward with their lives and leave behind all of the pain and loss.

For Inside Out: Dark Kiss Reads says:

What amazes me about Amy's writing is the way she tosses in a throwaway remark that almost gets missed and yet proves integral to the story. It’s why her books are such fun to read over and over, still revealing unseen things on second and third readings


Beneath the Skin picks up two years after the accident when Stanzie goes to a Great Gathering in Paris to meet a potential new bond mate and rejoin the Great Pack. An old boyfriend of hers dies during the Great Hunt and suspicion is cast upon Stanzie. Liam Murphy, another Pack shifter with an equally sad past, steps in to defend her. So does a Councilor named Jason Allerton, who asks Stanzie and Murphy to investigate not only the death at the Great Gathering, but other suspicious deaths, which have taken place in packs worldwide.

Scratch the Surface deals with Stanzie coming face to face with her old pack, Riverglow, and what really happened the night of the accident that killed her bond mates.

Hidden in Plain Sight, the third novel, sends Stanzie and Murphy to Vermont to find a missing sixteen year old girl from a pack called Maplefair.  The possibility she was abducted by a serial killer adds tension and danger to the investigation.

Inside Out concerns a situation where members of Stanzie’s birth pack, Mayflower, in Massachusetts are acting very strangely and the Alpha, Stanzie’s cousin, Faith, calls Stanzie in to get to the bottom of everything,

#Review: Giving up the Ghost by Melissa Ecker

Title: Giving up the Ghost

Author: Melissa Ecker

Publisher: Turquoise Morning Press

Buy link

Fans of light paranormal romance should keep an eye out for Melissa Ecker. In Giving up the Ghost, she brings readers a warm and engaging tale about transcending deep, personal loss and finding love, despite great evil.

Kylie and Jackson have the kind of marriage one can dream of, and a beautiful daughter, Abby. A bright future lies ahead of them, or so it seems. A tragic accident changes all of that in a heartbeat, and Kylie finds herself in the unenviable position of widow and single mother.

All is not lost, however. Kylie has the support of her loving family, as well as Jackson’s best friend, Ryan, who steps into the breach. He’s never settled down and it’s while he spends time with Kylie and Abby, that he grows into the realisation that he wants more than just friendship, and that fatherhood appeals to him.

Unfortunately Kylie’s grief is still fresh, and her love for Jackson threatens to turn into an obsession as she hangs onto his memories. Symbols of this include his wedding ring, which she wears on a chain around her neck, or the fact that she goes to bed wearing one of his sweatshirts.

This fixation on her lost husband offers a malignant spirit—an incubus—the opportunity to latch onto Kylie and feed off her vitality. At first she welcomes this intrusion, confusing it with her husband’s spirit, but its presence in her life soon displays a darker side. Kylie begins to weaken physically and emotionally, and cut herself off from the ones closest to her.

In order to recover Kylie literally needs to give up the ghost that’s haunting her, and it’s touching to view her transformation from grief-stricken widow, into a radiant, confident woman, despite the grave danger in which she’s placed.

Stylistically I had a few quibbles with regard to the editing, which could have called for better layering and a tighter pace. Certain key scenes were a bit too short while others could have benefited from trimming, especially near the end where some of the tension could have been ratcheted up. I had some issues with regard to motivations, in that I felt Kylie’s and Ryan’s acceptance of supernatural events was a bit too convenient, but this did not detract much from my overall enjoyment of the novel.

Giving up the Ghost is, on the whole, a satisfying read within its genre, and if I had to highlight my favourite scene, it’s definitely the one where Kylie and Ryan make love out in the woods while it’s raining—incredibly sensual.