Bonds of Fire
The novella Bonds of Fire by Sophie Duncan, is yet another of my recently read ebooks, that I really liked. First a warning: this is a slash story. If you don’t like m/m romance, don’t read it.
This is still a free download on Amazon and Smashwords so if it sounds like fun, go ahead and get it.
The main character, Drekken, is a dragon warrior. He’s bonded to his dragon, Miri. Unfortunately, after a battle, Drekken is separated from his squadron and Miri and is forced to babysit a group of baby dragons. He’s also faced with a growing attraction for one of the two young men who are in charge of the dragon babies. What complicates things is that the two young guys are already in love with each other.
As I said above, I really enjoyed this story. Especially the dragons. And the slash. 😉 I also liked the way Drekken felt torn between wanting to rejoin his squadron and Miri, and on the other hand, his responsibility to keep the babies safe. The baby dragons are unbelievably cute and the two young guys are unbelievably hot (and so, apparently, is Drekken).
What’s not to like?
Martian Invaders Meet Mom
Martian Invaders Meet Mom by Rebecca Lickiss and Alan Lickiss, is another free speculative fiction novella, that I recently read on my Kindle. This time it’s a children’s science fiction story. Hostile aliens send two male androids to Earth to prepare for an invasion. The androids meet four boys going to school and join them to learn more. After school, they also meet Mom. The invasion plans might have to be put on hold for a while…
This was a fun quick read that I really enjoyed. Just a simple, lighthearted story, exactly right for me at this time.
Years ago, I read two books by Rebecca Lickiss, Eccentric Circles and Never After and I loved them, especially the first one. To my surprise, other reviewers didn’t love them as much as I did. Oh, well, there’s no accounting for taste.
Housewife with a halflife by Alison Wells
Housewife with a halflife is another speculative fiction novel that I’ve recently read on my Kindle.
Susan Strong is a housewife like any other, until her fairy godfather Dave shows up to warn her that she’s literally disintegrating and that her falling apart could be the end of our universe. He’s there to save her, but he’s not having an easy time of it. First of all, Susan doesn’t quite believe him, even though she likes him. Secondly, during a shopping trip, she and her twin boys are sucked through a portal to another universe. Dave is doing all he can to save Susan’s life and get her and her sons back home again, but he’s running out of time and Susan isn’t really cooperating. She has too much to do, trying to cling to her everyday chores.
I really liked this book. The only thing I didn’t enjoy completely, was the way the book kept getting more serious. I preferred the lighthearted beginning. It wasn’t shallow, just more fun. At this time I really need something to take my mind of things, not be forced to contemplate sombre topics like life and death. However, even at the end, which was somewhat a happy one, I still loved this book and can really recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction and humour.
The Glass Wall by Madison Adler/Carmen Caine
For some reason, I neglected to review a number of ebooks that I downloaded for free from Amazon, right after I read them. I’m trying to remedy that now.
Superficially, this book, Beyond the Glass Wall (The Glass Wall), book one in a series of YA urban fantasy books, sounds like any recent YA fantasy book. If I’d read the blurb I probably wouldn’t have bothered reading it. But my list of Kindle freebies is so long and from my view on my Kindle I can’t see what the book is about, just the title. So I did start reading it and I quickly realized that I liked it.
The books starts with the main character, 17-year-old Sydney, moving in with a new foster family. She’s been through this a lot so she’s not all that bothered. However, the family she comes to is very nice and she slowly finds herself warming up to them. Almost right away, she spots a very good-looking guy moving into a house nearby. Sydney soon finds out that he’s far more than just a handsome stranger.
It appears Rafael, the new guy, has superhuman powers, which leads Sydney to suspect he might be some sort of alien, which isn’t quite the case. It takes Sydney a long time to find out exactly what he is. In the meantime, she also meets another extremely handsome guy, Jareth, who is a rock star. He has a mysterious connection to Rafael, though not really a friendly one.
I can’t seem to give this book justice. It still sounds like a cliche. Just take my word for it, this one is really good. I finished it in just a few days, because I wanted to know more about Rafael and Jareth.
I suppose partly it’s because it’s so easy to see everything through Sydney’s eyes. I liked the way she slowly realized that her foster family was different from earlier ones, who she liked, but never felt completely connected to. Right from the start the parents treat her as their own child. Their daughter takes a little longer to connect with Sydney, but she too, comes to view her as a close family member. This book is the first in a series of four. There’s also a prequel, Behind the Mirror, a short story, that is available for free download on Amazon.
No More Brothers (A Serafina Florio Mystery)
Just last night I finished readind this ebook/novella by Susan Russo Anderson. This summer I read the first book in the series about the midwife and private investigator, Serafina Floria, Fina, who lives in mid-19 century Sicily, Death of a Serpent. I have already reviewed that book, so I’ll move on to the novella.
It was great returning to this ‘universe’. I love Serafina and her family and friends. Sometimes though, I’m a little surprised that this era seems so modern. Was it? That’s perfectly possible. Though I’m a bit of a history fan, I can’t say I’ve delved very deeply into this particular time and place. Or maybe the author has let a bit of anachronism sneak into the story. If so, it doesn’t ruin the experience.
Fina has a big family – seven children and a young orphan who is part servant, part family member. She also has her best friend Rosa, who used to be a madam, but has now retired and lives next door to Serafina. Everyone is quite sympathetic except for Fina’s oldest son, who seems to resent his mother’s sleuthing hobby – though it’s not only a hobby – the police commissioner hires her to help on especially puzzling cases.
This story wasn’t quite as fascinating as the first, but I suppose that’s only natural, since it’s so much shorter, but there was a surprise at the end. The novella was only available as a Kindle download. Fortunately I have a Kindle Touch.
I’m looking forward to reading the third part in the series – Death in Bagheria.
The Twistrose Key
Recently, I read the Twistrose Key, by Tone Almhjell. That’s a Norwegian children’s books writer. According to a review by a Norwegian girl, the English original wasn’t very good. I can’t comment on that. I read the Swedish translation. It was good enough that I was taken in. I thought it was a book, originally written in Swedish (or possibly Finland-Swedish), because the setting of the book is clearly not only Nordic, but from the very far North.
To me it seems a bit odd that a Norwegian writer should decide to write a book in English. I have to admit that while I consider my own English quite good, I’d never dare to write a book to be published by a real publisher in any other language than my own. I do, however, write blog posts, shorter short stories and fan fiction in English and occasionally simple, brief comments in discussions in French. Once or twice I have also chatted (to some extent) in German, Italian and Spanish. Ok, back to the review. 🙂
Aside from the underlying sad theme (about death and losing a loved one) this was an exciting and well-written book. The story is based on a very interesting idea – a world where children’s pets go when they die. But that world is threatened by a very dangerous enemy and the main character Lin (or Lindelin) Rosenquist, who has been named for an old song, comes to the rescue. She belongs to a small group of children, who can travel to the animals’ world to save them from danger. In her struggle to save the animals and their world, she puts her old troll hunting talents from back on the farm, to good use.
In their new world, the animals grow to roughly human size and are able to speak like humans. It’s a fascinating, not to say irresistible idea. Imagine being able to see our beloved animals again some day, and to get to talk to them. Thinking about it almost makes me cry.
The book pretty much ends happily and that is, at least to me, very important, and perhaps also to the children the book is primarily written for. But I have to admit that I felt very sorry for one of the ‘enemies’ and I wish that he could have had a happier fate.
Besides, just a thought – this book seems to assume that only children love their pets and will miss them when they’re gone. Just for the record, there are grownups (in a manner of speaking – lol) who do too. Perhaps even more than many children. For the record.
Defying Fate – Two Tales of the Warden by D. L Morrese
I have just finished reading the free ebook Defying Fate – Two Tales of the Warden by D. L Morrese.
At the beginning this seemed to be a very simple, but slightly humorous fantasy story, but after a while, I realized that there was more to come. As I kept reading, the story became more complex, but still, to some extent, slightly humorous, which is ok with me. Briefly, it’s the story of a young prince, Donald, who’s travelling around his father’s kingdom (and a neighbouring country) as a learning experience. He is accompanied by a guide/bodyguard, who’s an old soldier with a very pessimistic outlook on life. Later on Donald makes more friends. It turns out there’s even more to this story than I originally thought. One of Donald’s new friends, is really a several thousand years old android. Another is an equally old robot dog. Basically, the plot centers around Donald’s quest to stop an unnecessary war between his country and the ‘stoutfolk’ (dwarf) country Gotrox. At first it seems his task is hopeless, but Donald just won’t give up and his friends do their best to back him up.
Mostly, this is a well-written and fascinating, but simple story. My only complaint is about the grammar – the author seems to have an inexplicable dislike of the perfect tense. It’s only ever seen in some of the dialogue. Without exception, the author seems to have chosen to replace the perfect tense with the past tense (imperfect). It was driving me crazy. I found myself rephrasing each sentence in the way I felt it should have been. Other than that, this was a fun, light read, with many sympathetic and funny characters.
Never Buried, Leigh Koslow Mystery Series, Book 1, by Edie Claire
I just finished reading Never Buried, Leigh Koslow Mystery Series, Book 1, by Edie Claire. It’s a mystery, that I found for free on Amazon. It’s also available on Smashwords.
I think that the reason the author made this book available for free is that it’s the first book in a series, and was originally published in 1999.
This was a fun, fast read, but also a really good mystery. I didn’t guess ‘whodunnit’ at all, until the end of the book.
I’ll just say a few words about the plot. Leigh has just moved out of her apartment (cockroach problems), and moved in with her pregnant cousin whose husband is in Japan. One of the first nights Leigh’s sleeping in the old newly renovated Victorian house, she notices a strange man in the yard. The following morning she makes a very unpleasant discovery in the hammock outside. It’s soon apparent that someone wants the two cousins out of the house and the threats escalate. Leigh’s cousin won’t be scared from her home and she and Leigh start looking into the history of the house (despite the disapproval of the investigating police officer, Leigh’s old room mate from college).
Unlike many other Kindle freebies, this was a well written and well edited book. I think I only spotted one spelling mistake in the whole book. I can recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries (or who appreciates any well written freebie book).
Kitty, by Catherine E Chapman
I have also just read the short story Kitty (an e-book), by Catherine E Chapman. It’s very similar to a Jane Austen story, so if you love Jane Austen’s books, you’ll love this one. The main character, Kitty, is the second daughter in a family with three girls. Mum is all set on marrying off her oldest daughter (who goes by several different nicknames) to a certain young, handsome captain. The story is simply about that, but as far as that goes, it’s a fun, light read. I can really recommend it to all Jane Austen lovers.
The Night Also Rises, by C B McCullough
I have just finished reading The Night Also Rises by C B McCullough (in the form of an e-book). His book is what I would describe as a hard-boiled mystery noir, set in the future, on a different planet. The only important difference between Earth and Jannix that I can detect, is the fact that the day (and night) lasts several weeks. Perhaps oddly enough, I enjoyed this book a lot (though I usually prefer cosy mysteries).
The main character is a middle-aged private investigator who gets an assignment by a famous millionaire. He’s supposed to investigate the murder of the old man’s son. Not surprisingly, not all is as it appears and the case becomes a life and death struggle. It seems that this is the first book in a series, but it can be read and enjoyed as a standalone.
