There are more than animals in the water, and they want YOU.
How do you protect yourself?
A little mystery and plenty of danger, as the four kids try to survive and make good their escape. I enjoyed this novella, but I was never really scared, just curious.
What is it? Who and how will they survive?
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Four teenagers. A cottage by the sea. Something comes at night. Something comes with the tide …
They Come at Night was originally published in Danish, but is now available in English.
Well, what can I say about these characters…that they leave a lot to be desired is putting it mildly, as they will throw each other under the bus as the mystery surrounding the murder brings forth some misdirection and plenty of suspects that may keep you guessing as the last drink is drunk and the party has ended.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Last Dinner Party by Carly M Duncan.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
When Jeanie D’Alisa is
found murdered in her bedroom after hosting a dinner party in her home,
detectives Anna Cole and Kristy Hicks are called to investigate the
crime. Known within her community for her generous, yet unpredictable
nature, Jeanie’s secrets unfold as family, friends and neighbors become
suspects. Anna and Kristy discover stamped passport pages revealing
travels unknown and a curious relationship between Jeanie and the
charming salesman who frequents the apartment building. Meryl, Jeanie’s
devoted and needy friend, further complicates the investigation when she
phones Jeanie’s sister who is studying abroad and lies to her about the
cause of death. Through a muddied pool of misdirection and betrayal,
will Anna and Kristy be able to assemble the clues in order to bring
Jeanie’s killer to justice? The path to solving the mystery becomes
tangled with faces of loved ones who are revealed to be foes in this
story about the lengths people will go to in order to save themselves.
The twins are turning twelve years old and will have a choice to make, but it is not a choice like human children make and it will definitely be life changing…but this ends in a cliffhanger and you will have to read more….
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Rite of Passage by Emily Martha Sorensen
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Twelve-year-old twins
Jaeda and Kaedin are preparing for their society’s rite of passage.
Kaedin’s hoping to get magic. Jaeda just wants to survive. But neither
are prepared for the surprise awaiting them.
“Rite of Passage” is a 1,900 word short story. It can be purchased here, or read on the author’s website for free.
ABOUT EMILY MARTHA SORENSEN
Emily is a prolific writer with many titles to choose from. She
writes of fairies, dragons, fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, world
peace in short stories and flash fiction.
Blacktip Island by Tim W Jackson has a fabulous cover and I would love to be stranded on a tropical island. So…another adventure with Tim. Thanks for inviting me along for the ride.
Blake is a bit of a douche, a thief and embezzler. I seesaw back and forth with him trying to cut him some slack, but enjoying watching him sweat.
Whispers of pirate treasure and ghosts on the wind.
On this small isolated island it seems all the residents are running from something. Do they all have secrets? All the characters seem to be a mess of one kind or another. Sly, sneaky, secretive…I do love bad guys. What would the world be without villains?
Mal, I am very suspicious of her and I am curious if my thoughts are correct. Time will tell.
Will they find out who has been blowing up the new runway? Is there any treasure? So many questions I am waiting to have answered.
I laughed all the way to the answer to the mysteries of Blacktip Island. A cross between Magnum PI and Pink Panther. I can see him putting around on his scooter. I enjoyed my time on the island, snorkeling, treasure hunting, dodging the law and those who would betray me…and Hugh, wondering what comes next.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Blacktip Island by Tim W Jackson.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Inadvertent embezzler
Blake Calloway high-tails it to the Caribbean, a step ahead of the Feds
and desperate to restart life as an anonymous divemaster in a tropical
paradise. On Blacktip Island, though, Blake quickly discovers “tropics”
doesn’t mean “paradise,” and rookie boat hands stick out like a reef at
low tide.
The locals are quirky: a landlord who swears he’s
Fletcher Christian reincarnated, a boss who likes fish better than
people, a sloshed resort manager with a sex-crazed wife, a possibly
ax-murdering neighbor, and a girlfriend who just might turn Blake in for
the reward money. Blake steers a ragged course between them, trying to
straighten out the mess he’s made before the cops can track him down and
haul him away.
Blacktip Island is an irresistible comedy for anyone who’s ever dreamed of trading the rat race for a hammock under the palm trees
ABOUT TIME W JACKSON
Armed with a newly-minted master’s degree in creative writing, former journalist Tim W. Jackson knew he was qualified to be a bartender, a waiter, or to apply to a PhD program. Instead he chose Secret Option D: run off to the Caribbean to work as a scuba instructor by day and write fiction at night. More than a decade later, he still wishes that was half as interesting as it sounds. Or even a quarter . . .
Jackson is the award-winning
author of the literary novel Mangrove Underground and The Blacktip Times
humor blog. His second novel, Blacktip Island, is a comic misadventure
set in the Caribbean. His “Tales From Blacktip Island” short stories
have been published in literary journals worldwide. He is currently
concocting his next Blacktip Island novel, The Secret of Rosalita Flats.
For more insider info, visit his website, www.timwjackson.com, the Blacktip Times (www.blacktipisland.com) or follow him on Facebook (Tim W. Jackson) and Twitter (@timwjax).
A portion of the proceeds from his stories goes to the Nature Conservancy’s Coral Reef Preservation Fund.
I have seen E J Stevens name bandied about and even follow her newsletter, so why I haven’t read or reviewed any of her work before surprised me. LOL So I set out to correct that and picked up a review copy of Craven Street, which was released 6.25.19.
The cover has an eerie vibe and I do I love the location, Whitechapel. It made me feel as if Jack The Ripper was looking over my shoulder as I walked the streets…or should I say ran, because there be monsters here.
I also love that the Whitechapel Paranormal Society has an all female unit.
We have plenty of action and sometimes our enemy will be our friend, as the bodies pile up. Gritty, dangerous action in this other worldly battle between good and evil.
Though there is not a cliffhanger, the story is far from over.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Craven Street by E J Stevens.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
In this spellbinding
novella, E.J. Stevens weaves a tale of murder, necromancy, and demonic
possession that brings together characters from her Whitechapel
Paranormal Society Victorian horror series and award-winning Ivy Granger
Psychic Detective urban fantasy series on the fog-shrouded cobblestones
of 36 Craven Street.
The discovery of bricked up skeletal
remains at 36 Craven Street point to something more diabolical than an
illegal anatomy school. The tool marks on the bones, arcane sigils of
great power, indicate more than mere butchery, more than enlightened
experimentation. The signs, omens, and portents support the crown’s
greatest fears. A great evil is being unleashed upon the gaslit streets
of London, a blood-drenched shadow reaching skeletal fingers beyond the
slums of Whitechapel.
We must stamp out this demonic plague
for the sake of our Queen, our Country, and our immortal souls. – Cora
Drummond, Whitechapel Paranormal Society
Collecting human
souls is a thankless job, nearly as tedious as acting as solicitor to
the fae. But when the demon Forneus enters an opium den searching for
men eager to trade their souls for the ill-smelling weed, he stumbles on
a plot so devious, so heinous, he’s jealous that he hadn’t thought of
it himself.
There’s nothing like a maniacal plot to unleash
Hell on earth to break the boredom of immortality. – Forneus, Grand
Marquis of Hell
The Whitechapel Paranormal Society series is
a Victorian horror “dreadpunk” series set in London’s East End. The Ivy
Granger Psychic Detective series is an award-winning urban fantasy
series known for heart-pounding action, quirky characters, and
supernatural horrors.
Whitechapel Paranormal Society novels Eeper Weeper and One for Sorrow coming July and October 2019.
I finished reading Beyond Time (Time Shifters #1) by Laura N Anile on 1.1.15. I did rate it on Goodreads, but didn’t post the review for this ARC. Sooooo….here is is.
It was free when I made this post but be sure and check for the ‘0’
Beyond Time by Laura N Anile intrigued me because I do love a good time travel story and add a bit of the apocalyptic/dystopian to it and it intrigues me more.
Why I didn’t connect to the characters, other than Kira, I don’t know.
There’s danger, a virus, nuclear bombs, lies and conspiracy, trouble figuring out who’s good and who’s bad…
The Time Shifter series needs to be read in order and Beyond Time makes the need to read more a necessity. Could that be part of my problem? Was it too ‘young’ for me.
If it sounds interesting to you, I do recommend trying it for yourself. Just because it didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Beyond Time by Laura N Anile.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
When you wake up in the wrong body within a futuristic world, being yourself can get you killed.
17-year-old
Ryder is on his way to school when he experiences pain like he has
never felt before. He awakes in a mysterious lab to discover that, as a
victim of an unauthorized transfer, he has been pulled into the year
2127.
Now Ryder’s life depends on him succeeding in making
everyone believe that he is Ziron, the boy that swapped places with him
in 2015. If he fails, he will be captured, imprisoned, or worse. Ryder
only has to survive two weeks in this futuristic world he doesn’t
understand. But two weeks is a long time when you don’t know who to
trust, and when you have to keep away from a girl you have sworn to
protect.
Kira refuses to stay away, so how can he prevent her
from discovering his secret? And how can he be with her when she thinks
he’s someone else?
Time is running out for Ryder to unravel the
conspiracy and uncover the answer to the biggest question of all: Just
why did Ziron risk everything to change places with him? And what
exactly has Ryder been pulled into?
In a desperate quest to find his way home, Ryder will stop at nothing to protect the girl of his dreams, and the secret that could destroy everything.
I believe this is my first novel by Ann Cleeves and I would like to thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review The Long Call.
I love the cover for The Long Call by Ann Cleeves and am always on the lookout for a good mystery. That being said, I really wanted to love this, but…
Maggie loved talking to her friend but one day he didn’t show up. And so her mystery begins and she wants answers.
The characters are gay, lesbian, mentally challenged…
Everything, good and bad, centers around the Woodyard, a community center.
It held no tension or suspense for me. I couldn’t get excited by the story or the writing but I am curious…so I will read on. I know a police procedural is not as exciting as a thriller, but I would put down The Long Call, read something else, come back to it, put it down…well, you get the picture. I was bored and my mind kept drifting.
I did finish it and because I had to know the ending, I gave it 3 stars, for satisfying my curiosity.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Long Call by Ann Cleeves.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
For the first time in 20 years, Ann Cleeves—international bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—embarks on a gripping new series.
In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place. Once loved and cherished, the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.
Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a
call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a
man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.
The
case calls Matthew back into the community he thought he had left
behind, as deadly secrets hidden at its heart are revealed, and his past
and present collide.
An astonishing new novel told with
compassion and searing insight, The Long Call will captivate fans of
Vera and Shetland, as well as new readers.
ABOUT ANN CLEEVES
Ann is the author of the books
behind ITV’s VERA, now in it’s third series, and the BBC’s SHETLAND,
which will be aired in December 2012. Ann’s DI Vera Stanhope series of
books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective
along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann’s Shetland series bring us DI
Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful
Shetland Islands…
Ann grew up in the country, first in
Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school
teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary
jobs – child care officer, women’s refuge leader, bird observatory
cook, auxiliary coastguard – before going back to college and training
to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird
Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting
ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle
of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room.
Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny
tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only
residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the
mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person’s not heavily
into birds – and Ann isn’t – there’s not much to do on Hilbre and that
was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features
the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are
seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters
moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for
many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie
lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their
ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year
of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library
authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid
for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups
in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham
Literature Festival’s first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working
with libraries. Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony
Ann’s
short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television
Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award –
once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the
Dagger in the Library award.
In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first
winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime
Writers’ Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland
Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA’s Gold Dagger award,
and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world’s largest award for
crime fiction.
Ann’s success was announced at the 2006 Dagger
Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London’s Aldwych, on Thursday
29 June 2006. She said: “I have never won anything before in my life, so
it was a complete shock – but lovely of course.. The evening was
relatively relaxing because I’d lost my voice and knew that even if the
unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So
I wouldn’t have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!”
The
judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown
MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray
(an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime
fiction), Heather O’Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer
for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime
fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).
Ann’s
books have been translated into sixteen languages. She’s a bestseller
in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical
acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin
Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200
I do like my stories dark, the darker the better and Broken Doll is raw, intense, graphic sex, abuse…or..is it, when it is only a doll…a sex doll…WHOA…do not know what I was expecting, but this wickedly weird short story was not it and I do want more.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
My last memory is of the accident. The rancid smell of gasoline and the silence…the deafening silence. Then there was only darkness…and him. I am his captive. His broken doll. There is no escape. No hope. No one is coming to save me.
This is a twisted, dark horror novella. There is no HEA. You have been warned.
An Army of Skin made me think of a Criminal Minds or very dark Bones episode, a psychopath plotting revenge, but how many innocents must die before he accomplishes his goal, and, if you look closely at the cover, you will get a glimpse inside the deranged mind of a monster…all the while I had a feeling, but Morgan K Tanner kept that niggle of doubt in my mind alive.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of An Army of Skin by Morgan K Tanner.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
After losing his mother to a brain tumour, Trevor King feels totally alone in the world. Someone needs to pay for her death and Dr Mellick, Trevor’s work colleague and family GP, is the man he holds responsible. Trevor’s yearning for vengeance leads him to concoct a vicious plot to frame the doctor for multiple murders. Trevor skins the corpses, turning them into elaborate art pieces after being inspired by a mysterious textbook. But as the skins of the flayed victims come to life and continue the killings for him, Trevor wonders whether he is in too deep.When Dr Mellick goes missing Trevor becomes convinced the doctor is planning a similar scheme to bring him down. But as Trevor discovers the truth of his mother’s death and his own life, this murderous path becomes more of a calling.
The cover wasn’t the only thing that had me eager to read David Barnett’s My Hungry Friend. The title makes me wonder…Who’s hungry and who will be eaten. LOL
Running the gauntlet of the homeless that are collected on the block, he makes the biggest mistake of his life.
“Everything’s got a price,” she said.
And he was going to pay it!
Is it real, or all in his head?
Will he take anyone down with him?
I wondered.
Spiders…one of the creepiest critters to crawl the face of the earth. Just thinking of, writing about them, makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck and chills run up and down my spine. That is the kind of scary I like. Not Jason coming at me with a chain saw.
The subtle creepiness and anticipation of what is to come gives me plenty of time to watch his world crumble.
The writing is great and the story is haunting.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of My Hungry Friend by Daniel Barnett.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
When Mike Roberts kicks over a homeless woman’s cup of change, she whispers a cryptic warning:
“Mind the cracks . . .”
Now
the Boston he knows and loves is unraveling around him. But his life is
not the only thing at stake. His mother, a once acclaimed writer lost
in the late stages of Alzheimer’s, depends on him to have a home. And
then there’s her caretaker, Cassie, who might want something more from
Mike than the friendship they’ve long shared.
As his city
balances on a razor’s edge, Mike will have to hunt down the daughter of
the woman he wronged and uncover their terrible family secret . . . or
be plunged into a world of crawling horrors and unspeakable hunger.
A world from which no one has ever returned.
ABOUT DANIEL BARNETT
Daniel Barnett lives in Portland, Oregon and is a lover of stories–especially ones where things go bump in the night. His work has appeared in Crowded Magazine, and his short story The Sadie Hawkins placed in the top 6 for the 2015 Aeon Award. When he isn’t writing or reading, he’s discussing fiction with others. Whether they want to or not.
