Issue 4, November 2016

51szevv9r8lVampire’s Kiss
Ella Summers
Fantasy/Paranormal

Once you sip the Nectar of the gods, there’s no going back.

Leda Pierce is working as a paranormal bounty hunter on the Frontier, the dividing line between human civilization and the plains of monsters. Life is simple and the pay modest, but at least she has her family. That is, until a vampire hunt goes wrong and her brother goes missing, captured by the dark angels of hell.

With no magical powers of her own and no way to find him, Leda’s only option is to go to New York and join the Legion of Angels, an elite unit of supernatural soldiers with powers gifted to them by the gods themselves. If she can survive long enough to make it up the ranks, she will gain the magic she needs to find her brother.

But Leda soon finds herself on the wrong side of a conspiracy that will shake up the supernatural world—and at the mercy of a fiercely powerful and tempting angel.

 

Uncaged Review: This just made me mad. The book ended too soon! This world is a post-apocalyptic type world, after a battle between angels and demons. Demons are now outside the towns, behind a wall known as the Wastelands, and the angels have legions of soldiers trained to keep the peace. Leda, and her family are bounty hunters, bringing in the law-breaking individuals for the bounty. But having very little to no magical abilities, they focus on humans. But when one bounty goes south and it’s a vampire instead of a human, her brother Zane, who is telepathic is taken prisoner afterward by Dark Angels. Dark Angels are fallen angels, working with demons. Leda knows that the only way she can get the powers that will give her the ability to find her brother Zane, enrolls in the Legion of Angels. Here, the angel Nero, has taken a keen interest in her. She is trained until she is bloody and broken, healed, and trained again. But what they find out after a mission that turns into a trap, is that there is a lot more trouble going on that even the Legion didn’t know.

This book is all action, all with a kick-ass heroine with a sassy attitude and endears the reader to her pretty quickly. There wasn’t much romance in this book, but it is setting up and I am truly looking forward to this series continuing.

5stars-web

nour_joeschoice_lg_revised-2Joe’s Choice
Myra Nour
Horror/Short Story

Waking from unconsciousness after being mugged, Joe staggers out of the alley toward the street. He finds chaos as he enters a zombie outbreak in progress. Scenes of gruesome horror make him want to run away, but Joe must quickly decide how he wants to handle a zombie apocalypse.

 

Uncaged Review: This is a great scene, that’s the best way to describe this short story, and what a ride! Joe wakes up in a garbage heap in an alleyway, having no idea how he got there, or even what his name is, except for a name tag on his shirt. As he finally gets up and starts to move toward the street, he hears sirens and screams. Thinking it’s an accident, Joe moves towards the street. What he sees, is people running and total chaos on the street, and several people lurching his way. As they get closer, Joe begins to believe he’s stumbled into seeing a film with zombies. But as Joe continues to watch, he realizes that it’s not a film. Joe is weak, and hurt and tries to follow the people that were running away.

This is a short story, and it’s described in such beautiful, gory detail, that you may lose your appetite (and I may have said that because I was very close to eating a meal when I read this story). Myra Nour is a master at endings that you don’t always expect, and this story is no different. This is a terrific short that could easily be a scene from a longer novel. Reviewed by Cyrene

5stars-web


51tep51woslFaerie Fate
Margaret Madigan
New Adult/Fantasy Romance

Holly Spencer is a 22-year-old IT major who’s ready to graduate and find her place in the world. What she really wants is a good job and a condo with a view.

But when she’s rescued twice in one day by a mysterious man who claims to be a fae warrior, she’s plunged into a world she grew up believing existed only in fairy tales, and is forced to run for her life from warring factions who all want her dead.

Shadow’s on a routine mission when he runs headlong into Holly—the soul mate he’d given up on ever finding. Even when she refuses to believe they’re meant for each other, he fights to protect her from the very thing that brought them together, even when it means making a dangerous deal with Fate to save her life.

They must confront their pasts together, and fight for their future against a demon determined to win.

 

Uncaged Review: This book is very original take on the genre of the faeries. In most books, Faes are human sized, but in this one, they can shift into a human form or the faerie form which is small and pixie like. It’s also a very fast paced storyline that tosses you headfirst into the action right away. Our main character Holly, goes to visit her dying grandmother in the hospital, never having met her. When her “aide” comes in the room, she has what she thinks is a seizure, and the woman dying in the bed isn’t all she is supposed to be. Holly soon finds out, she had her “First Sight,” a reaction when two soulmates that are Fated to be together meet. She also finds out she is half fairy/half human and her life is in grave danger. Shadow, the man/fairy she is fated and also the “aide” to the dying grandmother, knows he needs to protect her. When the father she never met, comes after her to kill her, Shadow escapes with her into their realm.

I’m not going to give more away, but this book is fast paced with a lot of action, humor, and originality. There are very few boring areas, I think the author does a great job giving enough information, but not overdoing it. I see the storyline continuing easily, but this book wrapped up its own storyline satisfactorily.  Reviewed by Cyrene

4andhalfstars-sma

51shu1sr2el-_sy346_Victoria at Sea
M. Kate Quinn
Contemporary Romance

‘Why?’ has no place in what the heart knows for sure.

On the eve of their wedding, Victoria Gliden and fiancé, Owen Walker, call it quits. He accuses her of not being able to get over her deadbeat father’s vanishing act when she was a child and she and her cold feet run and don’t look back.

Victoria, an interior designer, has an important meeting on Cancun that could garner her a promotion and the plan had been to incorporate her presentation with the honeymoon cruise that’s journeying to the island. Since she’s sure Owen is on his way to Portland to escape the aftermath of their ruined wedding, Victoria takes the honeymoon cruise anyway. Only Owen has the same idea and they’re stuck with each other for six days, five nights.

When Tony Gliden, Victoria’s father, dies in a freak accident, he is sent back to Earth disguised as a crotchety old man with the mission to convince his daughter to believe in love. So, he, too boards the ship.

At sea, destiny takes a detour when Victoria befriends the quirky old man with kind eyes and together they join forces with a quartet of unabashed women in their fifties who drink pink martinis and flirt with the waitstaff but are wiser than they look. While trying to dodge Owen, Victoria’s new acquaintances help her face old wounds and confront new fears.

By journey’s end, will two broken hearts get their answer?

 

Uncaged Review: Such a charming story. Victoria breaks up with her fiancé, Owen, and takes the cruise ship trip they had planned for their honeymoon, to get away and since she has a meeting in Cancun with potential clients for the company she works for in New York, it will be the answer, or so she thinks. Owen also decides to take the same trip, before he leaves to move to Portland, Oregon to take over his father’s business. But neither of them counted on Gil….

The fun of this story is Tony, who is the lost and estranged father of Victoria. After he is killed, he wakes up in a place, that to decide his everlasting fate, he must prove himself. So the powers that be, send him to the ship, disguised as Gil, a charming, older gentleman and his duty is to help his daughter. Within six days. A lot of fun ensues. I have to admit, I wanted to slap Victoria many times and throw Shawna overboard, but the characters are memorable, fun and I would consider it a fun rainy day read. Reviewed by Cyrene

4andhalfstars-sma

 
51ohkun6wkl-_sy346_Prim and Proper Fate
Tami Lund
Paranormal Romance

Brandon Haines hates Fates. As far as he’s concerned, they serve no good purpose.

Even Prim. She’s sex and candy walking, and he may not be able to get her out of his head, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to do anything about it.

Except now he needs her.

Because Gavin Rowan’s curse has been lifted, and Prim is the only one who can re-curse him. Otherwise, Brandon’s whole damn species will be annihilated.

Uncaged Review: This is a second book in a series, and I had not read the first one, so I was cautious going into it, hoping I wouldn’t be too lost, but the author does a great job and I never felt like I missed much at all by starting at book two. This is a classic tale of Light vs. Dark, and Fates are assigned to Chala, the only beings that can give birth to more Light Ones, who protect humanity from the Rakshasa – the Dark Ones. Without the Light Ones keeping them in check, the Rakshasa would end all human life. The problem lies in that in the story, there is only one Chala left, Sydney, who is mated to a cursed Rakshasa. With no one left to bring more Light Ones to the world, they must do all they can to protect the one Chala. Prim, is a Fate that has protected and released (to their respective mates) Chalas for centuries, and is hiding a secret that could affect the Light Ones world in a huge way.

This is a very original take in the fantasy world, and it was a very enjoyable read. Some things were predictable for me, but could be because I’m a heavy reader of fantasy. Good storyline, it does wrap up its storyline and leaves on a satisfactory ending, but it also sets up the next in the series quite well. Reviewed by Cyrene

4andhalfstars-sma