Monthly Archives: November 2016

November 9, 2016 · 5:00 am

Watership by Jenna Whittaker (Book Review)

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The world was dying, so scientists worked to create a safe haven in the centre of the earth; hollowing it out for the future generations to live safely.

When the creatures created to watch over the people detected the failsafe program had activated, and that their hollow world was about to collapse, they took them to a sentient, biological spaceship, set with the coordinates to take them to a new world.

But with the aliens who helped the scientists in the past having come back to change the course of the ship, things soon spiral out of control.

Kindle Purchase Link

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(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique)

Creatures with multiple legs, claws, horns and milky eyes. Individuals with an unnaturally elongated form, no facial fissures except a mouth and orb-like eyes. Abominations with no facial features at all. Jenna truly did the sci-fi genre justice with her creations. Beings I would expect to see on the Syfy channel line-up.

One Syfy original show came to mind while I was engrossed in “Watership” — Falling Skies (TV Series 2011–2015). The”Skitters”, six-legged aliens on Falling Skies, did communicate using the hive-mind connection. Also, like Falling Skies, there was one special girl whose appearance changed drastically by aging more rapidly than humanly possible, and proved to be the game changer to the plot. Like the show, aliens and humans worked together but, unlike the show, most of the storyline took place on a ship.

Like Jenna’s other science fiction story The Last Immortal, I felt somethings needed more clarification. How is Charn, Queen’s daughter, able to produce a black mist from her fingers and eyes? Also, Aspects (beings created by the core) came about out of the blue. One final thing, I’m surprised Desu wasn’t more aware of certain happenings aboard the ship since she brought the humans there. You’d think she’d know the ship inhabitants forwards, backwards and sideways. Due to these problem areas (my hiccups), I had to dock a couple stars. However, all in all, a great read and worth spending few bucks on.

Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest)

Score: ❤❤❤

Kindle Purchase Link

My name is Jenna Whittaker and I am an Australian author who has been writing fantasy, science fiction, and horror novels for as long as I can remember! I love writing, my artwork, and caring for animals.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jen_W_95

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https://www.facebook.com/jenna.artwork

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Blog/Websites:

http://jennawhittakerart.weebly.com/

http://jennawhittaker-author.weebly.com/

That Potent Alchemy: Treading the Boards, Book 3 by Tess Bowery (Book Review)

Is his love her safe place to land…or just smoke and mirrors?

Grace Owens danced her feet bloody to become the finest en pointe prodigy of her generation, but the only accolade she longed for—her father’s approval—never came. Finally, broken and defeated, she cut ties and fled to London to live life on her own terms.

Now, after four years as an actress in London’s smaller theatres, a last-minute production change lands her right where she never wanted to be again. Front and center in the ballet—and back in toe shoes.

From his perch on the catwalks, machinist and stagecraft illusionist Isaac Caird can’t take his eyes off Grace. A woman who wears men’s clothing, but not as a disguise. An exquisite beauty who doesn’t keep a lover. A skilled dancer who clearly hates every pirouette.

The perfect lines of her delicate body inspire him to create a new illusion—with her as the centerpiece—that will guarantee sold-out shows. Maybe even attract a royal’s patronage. But first he has to get her to look at him. And convince her the danger is minimal—especially within the circle of his arms.

Featuring a gender-fluid ballet dancer, an amateur chemist who only occasionally starts fires, and an old rivalry that could tear them apart.

Kindle Purchase Link

(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique)

Historical romances, for the most part, have a common denominator — couples DO NOT rush into the act of love-making. In this genre, I’ve discovered couples are more prone to tread slowly, basking in the rewards of subtle touches and lustful glances. They understand the act of foreplay with their words holds the same amount of power, if not more, than succumbing to the carnal impulse to inert slot A into slot B.

In “That Potent Alchemy”, Isaac and Grace had their share of tender touches and they also dabbled in various acts of eroticism: oils, scarf, and a strap-on. I have to say I’m impressed with Isaac’s attitude and reaction to Grace’s “prick”. He wasn’t close-minded and found himself thoroughly enjoying his *never before touched* area pleasured.

Kinky!!

Now when the couple wasn’t seeking sexual satisfaction, a plot was unfolding. Someone was attempting to sabotage the play Isaac was a set designer for and Grace was dancing/acting in. For me, the plot seemed like a problem any theatre company would face then or now. For that, I give Tess props. (no pun intended) 😀

Tess stayed true to circumstances faced my anyone in the “business” and also delivered us a nice portion of romance/kinkery.

Lovely work, Tess!

Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest)

Score: ❤❤❤❤

Kindle Purchase Link

Other books by Tess Bowery:

She Whom I Love: Amazon Purchase Link

Rite of Summer: Amazon Purchase Link

High Contrast (Evolution Ink): Amazon Purchase Link

Tess Bowery lives near the ocean, which sounds lovely, except when it snows. An historian by training and a theater person by passion, she’s parleyed her Masters degree in English history into something that would give her former professors something of a surprise.

Her love for the Regency era began as they always do, with Jane Austen, and took a sharp left turn into LBGT biographies and microhistory. Now she indulges in both of her passions, telling the stories of her community in the time periods that fire the human imagination. Her first foray into contemporary M/M fiction, High Contrast, releases in 2016.

Along with writing, Tess splits her time between teaching, backstage work, LBGT activism and her family. She spends far too much money on comic books, loves superheroes and ghost stories, and still can’t figure out how to use Twitter properly.

Get updates and book information at http://www.tessbowery.com, or hang out with Tess at http://tessbowery.tumblr.com, or @tessbowery on Twitter.

Goslyn County by A. M. McKnight (Book Review)

A mostly black community with its roots in farming, Goslyn, Virginia lay just south of the State’s Capital. The once small, close-knit county had grown rapidly in the past two decades and boasted a population of just over fifty thousand. But the county’s crime stats had grown as well, and the latest offenses included several break-ins and rumors of a meth lab. Time had brought many changes, and many of the longtime folks of Goslyn no longer recognized their community and longed for days gone by.

Goslyn PD Detective Olivia “Ollie” Winston loves her family and friends and shows it through her sense of humor. Just like her neighbors, she too worries about the recent events, and it’s her job to find out who’s behind the crime spree.

While investigating three burglaries, Olivia meets IRS Special Agent Maureen Jeffries who is pursuing a tax fraud suspect. Their cases are connected, and both soon discover they have much in common, personally and professionally.

Excerpt from Goslyn County:

“I think we’ve talked about everything except politics and sex,” Olivia said out of the blue.
Maureen blushed and was speechless.
“Sorry, Maureen. I don’t know where that came from.”
“Don’t worry about it. You just reminded me of Carol, my receptionist. She’s far more graphic though. Let’s make another date so we can talk about politics. Then…perhaps a third date for sex? I mean, to talk about it.”

(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique)

When you first pick up Goslyn County, you’ll note the cover isn’t flashy. There are no sexy women on the cover. Nothing that screams it’s a book focusing around the love that blooms between two lesbians.

What you see is a detective’s badge.

Maybe A.M. McKnight’s intention was to let our imaginations conjure up how we think Olivia and Maureen would look or maybe she wanted the readers to buy the book because it was a crime story (first) with a love story attached.

All I can say is …thank goodness for book summaries because without it I wouldn’t know it had a same sex coupling in it.

Those of us who look towards a cover first, seeking a lesbian story, I think they might pass on it, unbeknownst to its content. That’s why I always read the back cover.

Moving on……

The first thing I loved about McKnight’s story, Goslyn County, was the countless strong women gracing the pages. Brains, beauty, brawn – her characters had it all and were respected members in their field of expertise and/or distinguished members of society. Take Ollie, she was a detective and taught math at the community college. Her mother, a retired teacher, was in Haiti helping to re-open schools devastated by Mother Nature. Lisa, her best friend, was a IT goddess and business owner. Gloria, Maureen’s sister, was also a business owner. I could go on but you get the idea. Smart, strong women — ideal role models for our youth.

In regards to the cases being investigated by Ollie and Maureen, the plot of the tax fraud and subplot of car cloning had its moments were I was totally engrossed into the unfolding action and other times where I felt the story had gone stale.

When the lull moments came about, McKnight would bring me back into the fold with their choice of date topics. And McKnight, if you are reading this, I will never be able to look at the Pillsbury Doughboy the same way again. (See page 147 for explanation)

Since this is a book revolving around two women falling in love, I must discuss my thoughts at the pairing. I liked they didn’t rush into sex. They waited until they were in love. When they finally consummated their relationship, they didn’t rip each other’s clothes off. They weren’t consumed with a fiery passion where they were frantically pawing at each other, starved for physical content. Like their courtship, they took their time — exploring one another. For me, the slow loving was more sensual, more erotic, than most “must have you now” sex scenes most authors seem to write.

Well done, A.M. Knight!!

Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest)

Score: ❤❤❤❤

Amazon Print Purchase Link

Kindle Purchase Link

I’m a longtime Virginian and practice law as a first profession. I decided to try my hand at writing after getting hooked on lesbian crime and romance novels. As a lover of fast crime action and black lesbian romance, I combined the two and wrote my first book, Goslyn County–self published. My future works include a short story romance and a second self-published novel–both based on the characters of Goslyn.

Twitter: @wordmc46

Website: ammcknight.wordpress.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ammcknightbooks

The Last Immortal by Jenna Whittaker (Book Review)

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Death was alien to them. The people of the world never knew death for as long as any could recall; yet when their world slowed on its axis, the atmosphere disintegrating, the immortals felt death for the first time.

A wasting sickness ravaged their species. The old could not fight it, and the young who survived were permanently scarred by it, unable to ever bear children. Yet when it seemed that the sickness had passed, further destruction was laid upon them; the earth shattered. What was once a whole world became a mass of small shards of land held together, barely, with never-ending chasms separating them.

But when an immortal girl appears, Kyrilee, who cannot catch the wasting sickness, she tells a tale of dreaming thousands of years past, of giving birth to a cat. Most dismiss her as mad, but some believe she is the one they have been searching for. The one who holds the key to curing the sickness, who can bring the people together once more.

Kyrilee finds that she is no immortal, but instead a mortal body with an immortal soul, constantly reincarnating throughout the ages.
When she discovers the cats, the descendants of the one she birthed in her dream, and she realises it wasn’t a dream at all. These creatures hold the key to restoring the earth. She must take this key from them before they enslave the humans.

Kindle Purchase Link

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(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique)

For a science fiction book, I will admit there were certain elements of The Last Immortal which fell in beautifully with the sci-fi genre: immortal women, speaking cats, portals, and soul transference. The cats, monstrous in size, were thought of Gods because of how they made their appearance to the humans. Humans whose lives were altered dramatically due to radiation and these cats. For the humans in the story, I would have appreciated more backstory on certain people: Marissa and Avery in particular. Jenna mentioned Avery loving her and her hating him in return. No explanation. No flashbacks. Nothing. Their part in the story felt incomplete and I think an expansion of their roles would have benefited their storyline greatly. I also wondered why they were the appointed leaders of their respected groups. Maybe this can be addressed in a prequel?

Now back to the cats, whose roles were the main focal part of The Last Immortal. I didn’t quite understand the whole concept of where they came from but science fiction is the genre of WTF. Basically, the impossible made possible through imagination and Jenna sure does have one helluva imagination.

However, due to the incompleteness with character development and the all-together feel this story was a sequel instead of a first in a possible series, I must dock it stars.

(Ends with a cliffhanger.)

Heart Rating System – 1 (lowest) and 5 (highest)

Score: ❤❤1/2

Kindle Purchase Link

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jen_W_95

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennawhittaker

Deviantart: http://ky306.deviantart.com/

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Sketchmob: https://sketchmob.com/user-profile/Jen144/