Giveaway & Review: Shadow in the Sea by Sheila A Nielson

Posted on December 4, 2015 by fundinmental

Welcome to my stop for Shadow In The Sea by Sheila A Nielson

I love the beautiful cover and cannot resist reading any mermaid story.

How about you?

MY REVIEW

Shadow in the Sea by Sheila A Nielson is a fantasy mermaid story. The opening made me feel, drat been there done that, but as I read on, I thought, okay this is a bit different. I know it is hard to come up with a unique and original twist on a common theme, but I think Shelia A Nielson was able to accomplish this in a big way.

Accused of murder, Sade was waiting for her death…until she found herself adrift in the ocean. Tossed overboard and meant to die, she was given a second chance. She was washed up on the shores of the mysterious Winwaithe Island.

Sade pretended to have amnesia. She hid from the others, was she also hiding from herself?

She is terrified of the water, yet unable to resist its call.

She knows the value of all life, whether man or mouse, literally.

I love to hate a villain and Captain Westwood fits the bill.

The characters are wonderful, fully developed and complex. They grow and develop throughout the story.

Is Shadow in the Sea predictable…yes and no. There is something extra that I wasn’t expecting and that is always a very good thing. We have some romance, Sade is a young woman after all. She has loved and lost. Tragedy, yes, we have a violent beginning to what becomes an amazing “tail” of love and sacrifice.

I have never entered a merworld so creative and wondrous. I was enthralled, loving the visualization created by Shelia’s words as we entered her underwater world.

A merman with a beard. Clothes. A city. Dancing. Laughing. Children. Let your mind run wild…mine did and I loved it so much I hated for the story to end. Shadow in the Sea, Sade’s story, is Book II in the Forbidden Sea series, but I don’t feel it affected my reading, other than making me want to go back and read Book I, Adrienne’s story, to see what I missed.

I received a copy of Shadow in the Sea by Sheila A Nielsen in return for an honest review.

5 Stars

Book & Author Details

Shadow in the Sea by Sheila A. Nielson
Publication date: July 15th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

SYNOPSIS

When sixteen-year-old Sadelyn Hanson washes up on the shores of Windwaithe Island, her beauty and the strange marks on her wrist make superstitious locals suspect she is a mermaid. Feigning amnesia, Sade hides a far worse secret: she was sailing to her own murder trial when she was thrown overboard by the real killer, the cunning and cruel Captain Westwood.

Sade’s quiet effort to rebuild her life on the island is threatened when she meets an actual young merman. Unable to speak his language, Sade still longs for the warm companionship he offers, despite the locals’ dire legends about merfolk and their dark magic. But her confused feelings for the impossible boy become the least of her problems when Captain Westwood’s ship docks at Windwaithe. With nowhere to escape, Sade must trust in the one person who doesn’t fear the merfolk. A woman who had dealings with them herself—years ago.

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / eBook Mall (ePub version)

AUTHOR BIO

Sheila never did figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up. She graduated from college with a BFA in illustration, has worked as a children’s librarian for over eighteen years, and would eventually like to be a full-time author. Why pick one career when you can have many? Sheila lives with her two pets, a goffin cockatoo and a tiny toy poodle. She was born and raised in California but has come to also love her adopted home in Utah where she currently resides.

Author links: Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Grand Prize

Giveaway:

Tour-wide giveaway (US/CAN)

1 grand prize package which includes: 1 twin sized mermaid bedspread, 1 pair of light-up earrings, 1 signed paperback copy of Shadow in the Sea, 1 signed hardback copy of Forbidden Sea
1 runner up prize package which includes: 1 mermaid in a cup figurine, 1 pair of light-up earrings, 1 signed paperback copy of Shadow in the Sea, 1 signed hardback copy of Forbidden Sea
3 combo prizes which includes: 1 pair of light-up earrings, 1 signed paperback copy of Shadow in the Sea, 1 signed hardback copy of Forbidden Sea
2 prize packages which include: 1 pair of light-up earrings, 1 signed paperback copy of Shadow in the Sea
8 signed paperback copies of Shadow in the Sea

ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HERE

Giveaway ends Dec 10th

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

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Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

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Friday 56 #63 & BB #39 – The Murder Game by Beverly Barton

Posted on December 4, 2015 by fundinmental

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The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and find any sentence or a few ( no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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Do serial killers catch your interest? Try New York Times Bestselling author Beverly Barton’s The Murder Game.

Are there ever any winners when it comes to murder?

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

Griff leaned in closer to the chief and lowered his voice.

“I’m not at liberty to reveal my sources – not yet – but we have reason to believe that Ms Moore was murdered by a serial killer and if that’s true, her murder could be connected to a case we worked on in the past.”

(56 in paperback)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

Nicole reached down and picked up her phone off the coffee table, noted the caller ID and held her breath when she answered, “Hello.”

“If you promise to do something for me, I’ll give you another clue.”

GOODREADS BLURB

New Game

The game is simple–he is the Hunter. They are the Prey. He gives them a chance to escape. To run. To hide. To outsmart him. But eventually, he catches them. And that’s when the game gets really terrifying…

New Rules
Private investigator Griffin Powell and FBI agent Nicole Baxter know a lot about serial killers–they took one down together. But this new killer is as sadistic as they’ve ever seen. He likes his little games, and he especially likes forcing Nic and Griff to play along. Every unsolvable clue, every posed victim, every taunting phone call–it’s all part of his twisted, elaborate plan. And then the Hunter calls, wanting to know if they’re really ready to play…

But Winner Still Kills All…
There’s a new game now, and it’s much more deadly than the first. A brutal psychopath needs a worthy adversary. He won’t stop until he can hunt the most precious prey of all–Nicole. And with his partner in a killer’s sights, Griff is playing for the biggest stakes of his life.

I am a “cover girl”.
What does the cover say to you?

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

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Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

#Month9Books Friday Reveal: Facsimile by Vicki L Weavil

Posted on December 4, 2015 by fundinmental

M9B-Friday-Reveal-Bannernew

Welcome to this week’s M9B Friday Reveal!

This week, we are revealing the cover for

Facsimile by Vicki L. Weavil

an upcoming Month9Books Title!

Author, Vicki L. Weavil, also shares her thoughts on the cover.

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

I love this cover because it reflects the book so well. The image of a girl standing alone on a desolate world is a perfect depiction of my protagonist, Ann, as well as her “sand over stone” world, Eco. But it’s also symbolic, because although Ann isn’t really alone, she often feels isolated on her frontier planet. The addition of the image of the Earth is also appropriately symbolic. Ann can’t actually see the Earth from Eco, but since her goal is to live on Earth it’s always on her mind, so the inclusion of the Earth image is a wonderful metaphor for her hopes and dreams.

For a ticket to Earth, seventeen-year-old Anna-Maria “Ann” Solano is willing to jettison her birth planet, best friend, and the boy who loves her. Especially since all she’s required to do is escort Dace Keeling, a young naturalist, through the wilderness of the partially terraformed planet Eco. Ann‘s determination to escape the limitations of her small, frontier colony never falters, until Dace’s expeditions uncover three secrets. One offers riches, one shatters Ann’s perceptions of herself, and one reveals that the humans stranded on Eco are not its only inhabitants.

Ann’s willing to sacrifice friendship and love for a new life on Earth. But when an entire species is placed in jeopardy by her actions, she must make a choice – fulfill the dream that’s always sustained her, or save the planet she’s never considered home.

Facsimile (Facsimile #1)
by Vicki L. Weavil
Publication Date: March 8, 2015
Publisher: Month9Books

Available for Pre-order:
Amazon | B&N

About-the-Author

Vicki Weavil 11

Vicki L. Weavil is represented by Fran Black of Literary Counsel. Her Young Adult Fantasy, CROWN OF ICE — a dark YA retelling of H.C. Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” — is published by Month9Books. Two companion books to CROWN OF ICE — SCEPTER OF FIRE and ORB OF LIGHT — will be published in 2016 and 2017.
Her YA SciFi — FACSIMILE — will be published by Month9Books in 2016, with a sequel, DERIVATION, to follow.
A new YA Fantasy, THE DIAMOND THIMBLE, will be published by Month9Books in 2018.
She also writes adult SciFi.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumbler

Giveaway

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win.
Title will be sent upon its release.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!