Review: Stranded on Thin Ice, by Sharon CassanoLochman

 

Title: Stranded on Thin Ice

Author: Sharon CassanoLochman

Format: e-galley

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Twelve-year-old Tanner Phillips fishes the Oneida Lake Ice Fishing Derby every year with his dad. Last year, he ruined everything — losing the competition and losing some of his grandfather’s gear. This year, Tanner is determined to not only prove his skills on the ice, but also show his dad, once and for all, that he’s no longer a little kid.

But as soon as they get out on the ice, the competition turns disastrous.

When one of the competitors goes missing and another gets injured, Tanner’s father must leave Tanner and his new friend, Richie, alone on the ice. After their ice hut comes unhitched, Tanner and Richie find themselves blown across the frozen lake in a blinding snowstorm.
Alone. Without their cell phones. Trapped, on thin ice. Suddenly, it isn’t just about the winning the derby — it’s about life and death. In one perilous night, Tanner will have to prove not to his father, but to himself, that he has the courage and determination to survive. "

My Opinion: Tanner is so excited to be at the Oneida Lake Ice Fishing Derby again this year with his dad, but he's determined not to make the same big mistake he made last year, losing his pole through the hole in the ice. He really wants to prove to his father that he's not a kid anymore, but things start to go wrong even before they get to the ice.

This was a well written, very interesting book, with a lot of suspense, as well as a lot of interesting characters. Tanner and his new friend, Richie, are very likeable and act age appropriate, which is a nice change from kids their age acting mature beyond their years. The setting is described so well I felt like I should put a sweater on while I was reading it because I should really be shivering from the cold! The plot was paced out nicely and this ended up being a really quick read because it was so interesting. It kept my attention from start to finish, and it ended all too quickly.

In summary, this was a very well written book full of suspense and great characters, that I think will appeal to the middle grade age group.

Highly recommend.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: Lord of the Wolfyn (Royal House of Shadows #3), by Jessica Andersen

 

Title:         Lord of the Wolfyn (Royal House of Shadows #3)

Author:    Jessica Andersen

Format:    e-galley

Source:    NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Once upon a time...the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs...and time is running out....

For practical Reda Weston, nothing could explain how reading a sexy version of Little Red Riding Hood catapulted her into another realm - face-to-fang with the legendary wolf-creature who seduced women. A wolf who transformed into a dark, virile man....

Dayn cursed the Sorcerer that turned him wolfyn and damned him to a lonely fate. As a beast, he mated with women to gain strength. Strength he needed to rescue his royal parents. But as a man, he craved Reda's heated, sizzling touch. With little time left, Dayn had to either embrace his wolf to save his kingdom...or fight it to save his woman."

My Opinion: This is the third book in this series, and since each book is written by a different author, that adds another layer to this series that just works out great. I haven't read anything by Jessica Andersen before but I was impressed by her writing.

This book is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, but definitely a grown up version. Reda's mother raised her on a special book, a one of a kind book, about Little Red Riding Hood, but she died while Reda was still young so she never had a chance to finish it. Reda is on leave from the police department for personal reasons when she finds that very same book in a book store. She takes it home and opens it and is transported to a magical realm, where she meets a man who is the spitting image of the sexy woodcutter from her book. She also lands square in the middle of a wolfyn village, which is the exact opposite of a safe place.

Dayn has his own problems. While he is away from the castle where he lives with his parents and his 3 siblings, an evil Blood Sorcerer attacks and casts a spell to vanquish the kingdom. The King and Queen are attacked and are dying, but they try to cast a spell of their own to protect their children before they succumb. Dayn's father sends him this message before he and his mother pass on to try to explain what's happening:

"Because of our wounds and the sorcerer's power, the spell turned warped as your mother and I cast it. The magic has sent you and your brothers and sister far away, as we intended, but it has also tied the four of you to the castle and begun a countdown. When this count enters its final four nights - and not before then -  you must all return to the island, retake the castle and kill the Blood Sorcerer. If you do not, you will die and Elden will be lost. But you must wait until the time is right."

He tells Dayn that a woman will come to guide him home, and then he is flung to another realm. He makes a home there and waits for this guide to appear. Enter Reda. They will have to work together to save Dayn's kingdom, and each other, from  unforeseen complications.

I enjoyed this installment of the series very much. Reda was a bit annoying in that she was constantly questioning herself and freezing when she and Dayn encountered any danger, but given her history and back story, it was pretty understandable and easy to get past. Dayn was just what you want in a hero - sexy and dangerous, but caring and tender as well, depending on what situation they found themselves in.

The world building was done very well, and given the different realms Reda finds herself in, this is saying something. The plot moved along at a good pace and it was easy to get invested in the characters and the story. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series to find out what happens with all of the siblings.

I can definitely recommend this book for fans of paranormal fairy tale retellings with a twist, and am giving it 4/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book freer of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Review: The Daemon Parallel (Daemon Parallel #1), by Roy Gill

 

Title:         The Daemon Parallel (Daemon Parallel #1)

Author:     Roy Gill

Format:     E-Galley

Source:     NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Our world is only the beginning… Cameron's father is dead and his inheritance is … rather unusual. He has power to world shift: travel between the Human and Daemonic realms and the Parallel – a void where the worlds meet. Between befriending werewolves and battling daemons, Cameron's new life is already pretty complicated but things are about to get even more dangerous…"

My Opinion: Cameron is a young teen who has just lost his father, and his mother left when he was even younger, so he's very thankful when his grandmother takes him in, even though he doesn't know her at all because for some reason, his father wouldn't let him have anything to do with her when he was growing up. When she tells him she can bring his father back from the dead with his help, he's over the moon. She explains to him that there is a world parallel to ours, called the Daemon parallel, and that he has magic and can help her obtain all of the things needed to perform the ritual to bring his father back. This sets Cameron off on a quest that involves werewolves, daemons, and even humans, and puts him in danger from an unexpected source.

I enjoyed this book very much. Cameron was a very likeable young man, and the friends he makes along the way are just as likeable. The interesting thing is that the ones you think will be evil sometimes aren't, and the ones you're supposed to trust are sometimes the ones you should be running away from the fastest. It keeps you on your toes!

The plot was well written, and moved along at an easy pace. The world building was phenomenal due to a very interesting setting. The human world and the Daemon parallel were described very well, which made them easy to imagine. The ending was a great twist, as well.

In summary, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Highly recommend to MG readers who like a little paranormal in their stories.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: The Faceless One (The Faceless One #1), by Mark Onspaugh

Title: The Faceless One (The Faceless One #1)

Author: Mark Onspaugh

Format: E-galley

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "In 1948, when he was just a boy, Jimmy Kalmaku trained with his uncle to be the shaman of his Tlingit village in Alaska. There he learned the old legends, the old myths, the old secrets. Chief among them was that of a mask locked in a prison of ice, and of the faceless god imprisoned within: a cruel and vengeful god called T'Nathluk, dedicated to the infliction of pain and suffering.

Now all but forgotten in a Seattle retirement home, Jimmy finds his life turned upside down. For when an unwitting archaeologist pries the mask free of its icy tomb, he frees T’Nathluk as well. Stuck in spirit form, the Faceless One seeks a human to serve as a portal through which he can enter our reality. The Faceless One can control—and mercilessly torture—anyone who touches the mask, which means there is no shortage of slaves to ferry it across the country to its chosen host.

Yet the Faceless One has foes as well: Stan Roberts, a tough New York cop whose pursuit of justice will lead him into a dark abyss of the soul; Steven, Liz, and Bobby, the family of the doomed archaeologist; and Jimmy Kalmaku, who must at last become the shaman of his boyhood dreams." 

My Opinion: The Faceless One is an ancient evil, a "cruel and vengeful god called T-Nathluk." The shamans of the Tlingit tribe in Alaska have always watched over this evil and made sure it stayed buried and encased in ice. Unfortunately, there are no more shamans in the village and a couple of anthropologists have unearthed the mask that imprisoned this evil god, and all hell is about to be unleashed on the world, unless a group of strangers can work together to reimprison it.

I thought this book was a great horror story, written by a new name in the world of horror, Mark Onspaugh. This was a great debut novel that introduced a unique evil and a group of very likeable characters, with a delicious amount of sit on the edge of your seat possession and torture thrown in for good measure. Because this book was well written, it was a really quick read, with good even pacing that moved along quite nicely. Just when I thought I knew where the story was going, it would take a turn and go off in a whole new direction, and the ending was a nice twist.

In summary, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading the second book in the series.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: Resistance (Of Ember and Flame, #1), by C.E. Ord

 

Title: Resistance (Of Ember and Flame, #1)

Author: C.E. Ord

Format: e-galley

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "With their sixteenth birthday fast approaching, orphaned twins Lia and Tyler Ford are still settling into their new normal in Sydney, Australia. Life with their paternal grandmother—their sole remaining, living family member—is a million miles removed from their former life with their parents in Ardsley, New York. Their grandmother is wonderful, their new school friends are nice, and Sydney is a perfectly fine place to live, but life these days for the Ford twins is not what anyone expected it to be.

Lia wouldn't have thought life could surprise her any more than it already has, but the arrival of a strange young man with an even stranger message turns what's left of her fractured world upside down in an instant. She and Tyler suddenly have more questions than ever before about their family's mysterious past, but also—finally—the chance to maybe fill in some of the many gaps in their knowledge of their family's history. That possibility has them readily following their unexpected visitor, Coen, to Gaea: a parallel universe which perfectly mirrored Earth millennia ago, though the two worlds have evolved to be markedly different realms today.

Gaea is in crisis. The North has already fallen, and the people of the South live in fear of a force so evil and powerful it may be impossible to defeat. With an empire hanging in the balance, the stakes are impossibly high, as are the expectations being placed on Lia. She must rise to the challenge and play her part in the resistance, or die trying—as the people of Gaea surely will if she fails. And, if Lia and Tyler can stay alive long enough on their treacherous journey, they might find out not only who they really are, but who they're destined to be."

My Opinion: It's been almost a year since twins Lia and Tyler Ford lost both of their parents in a car crash and had to leave everything they knew in New York and move to Australia to live with their paternal grandmother. Tyler is adjusting better than Lia, but on the last day of school she agrees to go with him to meet up with some of his friends from school. There she is approached by a strange boy by the name of Coen, with an even stranger tale. 

Quote: "I'm from a world called Gaea," he said evenly, his eyes never wavering from mine.

"A---a world . . . a world? WORLD?" I looked from Coen over to Tyler and then back again. Maybe this guy was a crackpot after all.

"Yes," Coen said evenly, his gaze still fixed firmly on mine. "A world. A world your mother and grandmother came from. A world that needs your help."

Needless to say, Lia and Tyler's world is turned upside down. They agree to go to Gaea with Coen, and that's when their adventure starts.

I'm just going to say it, I loved this book! I loved the twins and their relationship, and the fact that Tyler left everything up to Lia, but said that no matter what she decided, he was with her 100%, and Coen was adorable, too. The world building was done well, although I would have liked a little bit more of a lead up to this. The pacing was also great, and this was a very fast read because of that. The characters grew and matured from the start of the book to the end as more and more responsibility was thrust upon them, which was written in a very believable way. And there was a great twist at the end, another plus!

In summary, I loved this book and can't wait to see where the next book takes us. 

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: Point Last Seen (Last Seen in Gothic #1), by Christina Dodd

 

Title: Point Last Seen (Last Seen in Gothic #1)

Author: Christina Dodd

Format: e-book

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "LIFE LAST SEEN

When you’ve already died, there should be nothing left to fear… When Adam Ramsdell pulls Elle’s half-frozen body from the surf on a lonely California beach, she has no memory of what her full name is and how she got those bruises ringing her throat.

GIRL LAST SEEN

Elle finds refuge in Adam’s home on the edge of Gothic, a remote village located between the steep lonely mountains and the raging Pacific Ocean. As flashes of her memory return, Elle faces a terrible truth—buried in her mind lurks a secret so dark it could get her killed.

POINT LAST SEEN

Everyone in Gothic seems to hide a dark past. Even Adam knows more than he will admit. Until Elle can unravel the truth, she doesn’t know who to trust, when to run and who else might be hurt when the killer who stalks her nightmares appears to finish what he started…"

My Opinion: Ok, with that synopsis, who can really resist this book? Not me, and I'm so glad I didn't try! Disclaimer: I'm a huge Christina Dodd fan. I was before I read this, and I definitely still am. This book, filled with lost souls, was also a mystery, a thriller, and a suspense filled ride. I absolutely love the town of Gothic and look forward to reading more about it and its inhabitants in the books that follow this one.

Adam leads a self imposed solitary existence, and he has no plans to change that, until he finds a dead body on the beach near his home. Enter Elle. After bringing her back to life, and realizing that she has no memory of who she is or how she got in the water, and after noticing that she is covered in bruises, he takes her home with him and promises her a safe place to stay until she is well enough to leave. That proves easier said than done when he starts developing feelings for her. The search for Elle's identity and the mystery of her death leads to violence not just for Adam and Elle, but for other residents of Gothic. It turns out Adam isn't the only one with a checkered past in the town.

I loved this book so much in part because I loved Adam and Elle so much. They were great characters with great chemistry. The other residents of Gothic were pretty great, too, and everyone's back story was detailed, which made it easy to get invested in them. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this book series goes.

The plot was interesting and the writing was superb, which made this a quick read for me. The pacing was also on point.

In summary, I highly recommend this book to readers looking for a good mystery to sink their teeth into. 

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: A Coin for the Ferryman (audiobook), by Megan Edwards (Narrated by Mark Ashby)

 

Title: A Coin for the Ferryman

Author: Megan Edwards

Narrated by: Mark Ashby

Format: audiobook

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "In 1999, an elite interdisciplinary team headed by Nobel laureate Andrew Danicek gathered in California to carry out a ground-breaking time-travel experiment. While the rest of the world remained unaware, Julius Caesar was successfully transported from the last day of his life to a specially-constructed covert facility. Four days of conversation with historians and Latin scholars were planned, followed by Caesar’s return to the moment from which he was extracted. But despite the team’s meticulous efforts to maintain secrecy and plan for all possible exigencies, a kidnap attempt plunges Caesar into peril. Fully aware that the future of civilization may hang in the balance, one team member must summon strength she didn’t know she possessed to return Caesar to the Ides of March.

The shocking details of Caesar's visit and its effect on subsequent events have been protected by draconian nondisclosure agreements....until now."

My Opinion: I love books about time travel and books about Julius Caesar and ancient Rome, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this book, and boy was I right! First off, the narrator did an excellent job with the voices and tone of the different characters. It was easy to switch back and forth between them without being yanked from the story, which is a pet peeve of mine. 

As for the story, and I never thought I'd say this, but there was just a bit too much back story for me. Not enough to dislike the book, but enough that I felt sort of bogged down by it. But the characters were written well, so this wasn't a huge problem. The setting was well described and the pacing was good. I absolutely loved Julius Caesar in all of his arrogance because you just have to figure that if you ever met him, that's exactly how he would be! Nice twist at the end, too, although I'll leave it at that.

In summary, I enjoyed this book very much and can definitely recommend it, especially the audiobook version.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this audiobook free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.