Dark Time an HBIC Review

Dark Time: Mortal Path Book 1 by Dakota Banks

PJVs QUICKIE POV: Plunged into an emotional roller coaster from the onset - Dark Time had me entertained and enthralled. Besides a slightly stand-offish heroine the book rocked and I can't wait to read the follow-up.

REVIEW: In the 17th century a pregnant woman, healer, wife and innocent is taken from her home, thrown in prison and accused of being a witch. She has done nothing wrong - accused by a woman who was rejected by her husband. As her body burns on the stake she screams to live - the only thing that hears her is an ancient Sumerian Demon.

Selling her soul for another chance at life, Susannah becomes the Black Ghost - a murderer - her master, a demon intent on chaos and evil.

It takes centuries for her to tire of her evil ways, but when she is asked to kill an infant, Susannah is stopped cold by her guilt and knows that she can't go forward with her life. Her choices are to suffer at the hands of her demon for eternity or to right the wrong she has done - balance the scale, so-to-speak. She chooses to balance and so doing so redefines herself, becomes Maliha Crayne and begins the daunting tasks of rectifying thousands of deaths that were caused because of her.

Emotional and well-written, Banks' voice is poetic and speaks to the reader. She has a descriptive voice that purrs and flows off the page. You can't put this book down.

The only flaw I saw with this book was the main character's aloofness, she was hard to relate to. Almost untouchable. It was great reading about her, but it was hard to care about her. I did in the end, care for her, but she was a tough nut to crack. I think for the second book with the establish character connection, I will enjoy it even more.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Adult novel, there is violence and some very heavy topics.

 
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Featured Review: Out of Time

Title: Out of Time
Author: Monique Martin
Page Count: 390 pages
Format: E-book
Genre: paranormal romance, time travel
Review copy received from the author

Review by: Darkeva (http://thedarkeva.com)

This novel begins with a bang right off the bat and draws you into the world right away. The first character we meet, Simon, predicts the death of another character, Elizabeth, through a startling nightmare, and apparently, it's not the first one of this kind that he's had. Their lives, as the novel goes on, are more interrelated than he could ever have imagined.

When we get to Elizabeth's point of view shortly thereafter, her portion starts out promisingly. Simon, aka Professor Cross, is an instructor of Occult Studies, which Elizabeth is thoroughly interested in. Her descriptions of how hypnotic his movements are, and how he enthrals the (mostly female) students are interesting, because it sets him up in a way that you wouldn't necessarily expect.

And who among us doesn't love a sexy English accent? (Spike or Bones, anyone?) ;-)

Cross' dialogue is effective, and his humour comes across naturally, as with when he says, "Purge Tom Cruise from your malleable little minds" about the misconceptions that vampires are overly sentimentalized in today's media. He's a funny guy with retorts that have shades of Giles and Blackadder, which was delightful to read ;-) However, despite the overall sexiness/humour, at times his dialogue did come off as a bit stilted, even for someone who's English (and he tends to overuse phrases such as "What in God's name..." and "What the devil...", etc). But his inherent prudishness was mostly a delight to read, especially when he conjugates the Latin verb "consummate" to take his mind off anything sexual.

Elizabeth's observations, too, are amusing when necessary, as she guesses that Professor Cross probably imported cobblestones from England to trip young Americans ;-)

Possibly because of the formatting, there are a few areas where the point of view shifts from Elizabeth to Simon that come off as jarring because there's no division, but once you figure out that there's been a switch, it's not such a big deal.

One of the best things about the book is that although it's classified as paranormal romance, it definitely doesn't focus just on the burgeoning love story between Cross and Elizabeth. It has a lot of interesting supernatural elements that will appeal to readers who enjoy rare relics that have strange, unclear significances.

The plot picks up within the first few chapters and establishes the book as a time travel story, which definitely heightens the excitement. They end up in 1920s New York, right before the stock market crash of 1929--also the era of prohibition and gangsters, which definitely makes this more dangerous.

And apart from Simon and Elizabeth's story, there's a subplot that focuses on a gangster, King, who is determined to control the machinations of fate not only for himself but for the city of New York, as well.

In terms of the love scenes, they're a good balance between being intense enough that the reader will savour them but not over-the-top or too explicit.

And actually, one of the things that I enjoyed most about the novel was the lack of vampires--until the latter chapters ;-) (kidding) It actually made sense, the vampire is a well-developed character, and it fit with the clever twist toward the end.

Overall, there are a lot of exciting twists and turns in this enjoyable and readable novel, and if you're a fan of time travel, 1920s gangsters, or just a fan of a compelling story, I encourage you to buy "Out of Time." You'll be pleasantly surprised at how good it is ;-)

Rating: 3 out of 4

~Darkeva~

Feature Review: Halloween Fantasies

Review of Halloween Fantasies by Melissa from Books and Things.

Sasha excited to go to this years Halloween Fantasy Ball is hoping to have a thrilling time.When her costume is destroyed, her makeshift costume of sexy vampire hunter helps her snag more than one fantasy that night. She ends up meeting a real vampire, Dante, who finds the irony of her costume too alluring. He can’t let this chance go by without indulging in some fantasies of his own. As the night goes on she finds herself willingly at his mercy and then later his twin joins the party.

This hot m/f/m fantasy is only 68 pages, but I feel the characters are well formed and interesting. Dante is a very sexy alpha male with very specific ideas of what he wants to do to Sasha. And as much as he is concerned with her pleasure, I did feel that it was mostly one sided and would have liked to see Sasha more forward with some of her fantasies. I also felt that the first “go round” was at times a bit awkward, but that could have been intentional as Dante was trying to pull Sasha out of herself.


I give this book 2/4 stars. It’s a fun erotic novella. It also makes a great quick read for those looking for just a little somethin’ somethin’ for the season.

On a side note, I can totally see Stewart Townsend as Dante.*fans self* I think he can be much more alpha male than when he played Lestat in that unfortunate film.

HBIC Review: Three Days To Dead

  
BWB Adult review seleciton





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BWB: 1/4

Parajunkee's HBIC Review

Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding

PJVs QUICKIE POV: The anticipation of this book was better than the actual experience. I was really looking forward to reading this one - probably the chick on the cover and that knife, she looks like she could kick my butt. Unfortunately expectations and delivery just didn't match and while Meding thought up a great Urban Fantasy world that was quite intense and had some good intricacies - it was just that her characters left me lacking because of the lack of emotional connections. It felt more like a recitation of facts and occurrences and not a story in the first person perspective.

REVIEW: In the world where Evangeline Stone lives their are goblins, vampires and halfies, along with a lot more creatures that go bump in the night. They hide themselves from the human population in general - but their is a group that knows of their existence and police them with ruthless justice and sadistic penalties. Evy is a part of the group, her team is called a Triad. It is made up of three "agents" and one handler. She loves her job, she's a killer, but from her perspective it is the right thing to do. Everything was on track in her violent life - until she has to kill her teammate and then ends up on the slab in the morgue...in someone else's body with just three days to live.

So begin's Chalice/Evy's fight for survival and attempt at proving herself innocent of her teammates death. It is a wild ride with monsters, vampires and trolls coming from all angles. There is even a smidge of romance thrown into the mix.  It had all the potential to be a very hard hitting, nail biting Urban Fantasy but to me it just fell flat.

My first take on the staleness of the novel was Wyatt the handler and romantic interest #1. He was a total pansy - which didn't have me liking him much. And what guy would have done this to his "girl"? Sell his free will for three more days with his dead love? That just struck me as completely selfish, moronic and irresponsible.

Then there was the weird Chalice might still be there or some kind of weird body memory that had her clinging to Alex and hot in the pants for Wyatt. It was odd, what was that about? I wanted to slap Evy for even going back to Alex - how could she have done that to him? That just struck me as selfish, moronic and irresponsible. For such a tough chick, you sure don't like to be alone - so you have to ruin someone's life completely just to have what...company? Yeah, basically this book was about two really freaking selfish people doing screwed up things that could put the entire world in jeopardy.

SPOILER

I really was hoping by the end that one of them would have just killed themselves - you know last unselfish act and all that.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Adults only, has a lot of nasty themes. Violence, rape, sexual encounters, cursing. This one reminded me of Kelly Gay's Better Part of Darkness, with the ridiculously strong female character and the woosified male characters.

Paraj

Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison - PJV Review

Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison
Review copy provided by author.

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PJVs QUICKIE POV: I’m always happy to experience a new author’s voice, it’s exciting to read a debut, like trying a new wine or if you are not into that...a new dish with all your favorite ingredients. Sometimes these experiments leave you disappointed, running back to your old favorites...but other times they push aside the rest, soar to the top and leave you hungry for more. This, my friend, is what Shadow Bound did for me.

REVIEW: Talia O’Brien is the spawn of death himself. Half fae, whom are the guardian of the in betweens, and half human, Talia can wrap shadows around herself, more comfortable in the dark than she is in the light with the living.

On a day that changed her life forever, Talia came face to face with a monster and watched it suck the soul from her roommates body. The only thing that saved her was death - she has been running ever since. Now trapped in an alley with a wraith hunting her, on verge of heat stroke and dehydration, Talia must make a choice. Should she trust the man that has come for her? Should she put her life in his hands and her powers behind his cause? His natural charm and his casual good looks don’t make it any easier for her and as more and more comes out into the open about both Adam and Talia it might not just be their lives on the line, but their hearts also.

This book had me saying “wow” as I scrolled through it. The author's tone drips with old world depth and verse that historical authors try but very rarely achieve, which was surprising for a modern urban fantasy. The tone was reminiscent of one of my favorite YA authors, Maggie Stiefvater.  Like Steifvater you could almost drink in the words as if they were a humid evening instead of two dimensional words on a page. As the novel progresses the tone did evolve into a more modern narrative, but oddly I was not disturbed by the shift. It worked with the story.  Much as the shifting POV did. The POV shifts seamlessly from Adam to Talia leaving the reader with a varied world view, yet it didn't lead to confusion like often happens in ambiguous POV changes. The storyline was also very original, I have read before of soul sucking, and kisses of death...but the author paired it together in an original way.  I was highly impressed with Shadow Bound...and I can’t wait to read the second installment Shadow Fall.

The one short-coming that I did find with the novel was more of a “taste” preference. The heroine was a little more malleable than I would have liked and the hero a bit too one-tracked, leaving the romance a bit on the fizzle side instead of the passionate. But, like I said this is a personal preference - reading too much PNR I like my girls with snark and my boys with bite. (Insert Kitty Rrrrr here)

RECOMMENDATIONS:  Adult novel, for mature readers. This novel has a more fantasy feel than UF, even though it really is UF, so this might be a great transition book for fantasy lovers.






BWB RATING: 4/4

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Touched by an Alien - Parajunkee Review

Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch
Review copy purchased for blogwithbite.com participation.

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PJVs QUICKIE POV: The X-Files meet Senfield doesn't sound like a flattering description of this novel, but what can I say the book inspired two things in me... hilarity and intrigue. A comedy of sorts, Touched by an Alien, is ripe with witty one liners, bizarre behavior and the hottest aliens I've ever had described to me (well Showalter has some hot aliens also) and a lot of romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading Alien Tango.

REVIEW: Katherine "Kitty" Katt is having one hell of a day. Jury duty ends early for her and so it is back to work, but she is delayed by a man going postal on his wife and turning into a winged monster, killing his wife and then turning on the crowd. Kitty does what she thinks is the best idea ever, and slams her Mont Blanc pen into the grotesque gelatinous mass on the killers back, which luckily kills the monster.  She is about to retrieve her expensive pen (present from her father) and sneak away, but is intercepted by what appear to be male models in expensive Armani suits.  The male models are intent on having her join them in the sleek gray limo that is waiting for her...Kitty is pretty sure she doesn't have much of a choice.

In the next couple of hours Kitty learns that the human race isn't exactly alone in the universe and she might be the key to putting an end to an alien invasion, intent on making Earth a Hell like environment. There is no way Kitty can turn her back on the operation, or her very sexy other agents, one of which seems to have the extreme hots for her almost immediately.  Is Kitty up for the challenge? With another pen and her iPod, she might just be the human for the job.

A very wild ride, Touched by an Alien highly entertained and kept me laughing and on the edge of my seat. The wit was great, the action was intense and the romance was well, romantic - even though I wanted to kick some shins on a few of the characters.  All the typical nuances of UF romance was in play, even with the hint (ok not so much a hint but a glaringly obvious 3rd party) of a love triangle in the works.

There were only a few minor problems with the novel that I feel I should mention.  There is a lot of discovery in the novel, the mystery of the "bad guys". I feel that conclusions were made that weren't really explained, where other things were lingered on far too much.  I'm not going to mention specifics because it might be a spoiler, but around the middle point of the book a few chapters are nothing but explanations of back-story and this dragged a bit for me. I think this could have been compacted a bit more... but two sides to every coin and if things were cut, I might be stating that some of the story was left too much for interpretation and there needed more explanations.

Overall a great read and I look forward to reading more by Koch.

RECOMMENDATIONS: There is romantic entaglements that lead to sexual interactions...recommended for mature audiences of the non-teen variety. Science Fiction, Romance, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance fans should all be able to delight. I wouldn't exactly call this chick-lit and put it in the category of authors like MacAlister, but it is not hard-hitting UF. I really can't think of an author this compares to, mix Kelley Armstrong with Mary Janice Davidson and you get Gini Koch.

BWB Rating: 3/4

Discussion Questions:

1. When dealing with aliens, what do you think is more likely: the scary, super-smart, totally different species entirely aliens? Or the pretty-much just like humans, easy to relate to, here to save Earth aliens?

I think the scary, super-smart aliens would be more likely. I guess it really is if you believe in evolution or not. If you believe in our evolution a lot of our evolving seems random...and based on climate conditions and diet etc. If another planet was to start with the same exact simple celled organism, a meteor or forest fire could drive that evolutionary pattern down a completely different path...leaving them still on four legs, instead of upright just because of the predators at the time, thus making very different aliens. And that is if it was the same simple organism, which it wouldn't be since we are different planets. It might be more likely that we encounter nitrogen based water beings than oxygen breathing carbon-based lifeforms.

2. Did you think it was convenient that Kitty's parents were so accepting of the aliens and that they both had "secret" jobs?

Yes, I thought it cleaned the plot up nicely. Kitty's dad just so happened to be a cryptographer from NASA, mom a high ranking government agent...but isn't that why Kitty was targeted from the onset?

3. Did it seem that Kitty's sex life actually helped focus her and make better decisions and conclusions?

Well sex tends to relax a person, and better decisions and thinking are made when not under stress...so this seems like a reasonable conclusion.

4. Which one? Jeff or Christopher? Why?

Christopher. Jeff was a bit too pushy, that would have totally turned me off. I mean really...can we say crazy stalker? I like those boys you have to work for, Christopher seems like he might not go all psycho on her.

5. The parasites had a very strange and grossly exaggerated form when they manifested. Do you think this was a little over the top, or just totally kick butt and you would love to take on a giant slug?

I thought it was a little crazy and didn't make much sense, you know why would they manifest as these crazy big animals, that had all the weaknesses of the smaller creatures they emulated. Especially since they weren't from Earth...so why become big Earth creatures??

HBIC Review: Assassin's Honor by Monica Burns

Assassin's Honor by Monica Burns
Review copy provided by the author.

PJVs QUICKIE POV: A sexy little romp through a very imaginative world. Burns has created a delightfully entertaining and teeth gritting PNR that is sure to please die hard fans of the genre or newbies looking for an introduction. While at some points the world did over-power me, in essence it was a well-written and thought out novel.

REVIEW: Emma Zale, archeologist, is on a dig near Cairo when her mentor is brutally murdered and the MO is the same as her parents murder 5 years earlier.  The authorities immediately look at Emma as the number one suspect. When locals step forward with conflicting evidence, Emma is released and is sent back to the States, but her reputation is tarnished and she will not be able to go on any more digs.

Faced with this sudden change, her life is reeling, especially after she finds a strange coded message from her father and a very hot assassin pulling a little B&E in her apartment. When hot assassin, better known as Ares DeLuca tells her that her life is in danger and she needs to go into hiding, trusting him with her future and protection, after their stormy introduction she isn't very open to his ideas.  It takes a brush with death and an encounter with a not so friendly assassin for her to change her mind and follow Ares into his world, giving up her own.

The world of the Sicari is richly described and quite remarkable.  Burns paints a picture that will drag you down and have you believing there are hot Italian assassins running around with swords and telekinesis. From the intermingling of Latin and Italian phrases, to the portrayal of Sicari customs, you can tell Burns put a lot of effort in her world building and it paid off. There were only a few things that irked me, but nothing that detracted from the overall likability of the novel.  The first was that a few plot threads were left hanging, hopefully these will be rectified later in the series. The human bad guy was eradicated a little bit too quickly for my liking - but it might have been done this way to show exactly how ruthless the Praetorians are.  Then the characters were a bit too stubborn. It drove me a bit crazy. I understand a bit of pig-headedness drives a romance and builds tension - but I really wanted to slap the two of them and be like "get over yourselves!" But, once again, the novel was excellent, well worth your time.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Adult novel with heavy sexual content, violence and cursing (usual in Latin or Italian), for a mature audience. Fans of Paranormal Romance will really enjoy. A great PNR introduction for romance fans ready to take that paranormal plunge. Fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Kenyon's Lords of the Underworld, York's The Moon Series, should enjoy.


BWB Rating 3/4

HBIC Review Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

September 2004 by Plume (first published 2001)
Paperback, 436 pages
Purchased/ Blog with Bite Selection
Review Posted by Tina @ Tinasbookreviews


My first taste of Kelley Armstrong came a few months ago when I read her short story in Evolve based on a character from one of her Otherworld series. I was interested in reading her other works and Bitten did not disappoint. With its sharp writing and entertaining plot line, I found myself a new PNR novelist to love.

Elena after fleeing the pact and having a serious case of "he violated me issues" seems to be content living with her mediocre boyfriend, having a daytime career and prowling as a wolf in the middle of the night, that is until trouble strikes. With the craziness breaking loose and a string of murders going unsolved and the pack she ran away from threatened, she returns by overpowering instincts to help out.

The pack soon realizes they are up against a "mutt" pack and when the battle begins, Elena finds herself in a war over power, greed and testosterone fueled wolves fighting over property including her. I actually loved the story with the wolves fighting over the one female. You cant help but think (even though Elena knew who she belonged to) a big group of men fighting over you had to boost the ego...you know...I also loved the story between Clay and Elena and I think underneath the betrayal and angry feelings she had for him, she couldn't deny the love either. The dynamic between them defiantly sizzled throughout the thrilling plot line. The mutts as well I thought were interesting to read about. Each one who was human before without the hereditary gene bore evilness, a few serial killers, couple pedophiles, a nice icky mix of men who you wouldn't want creeping around your house at night. I'm excited to continue Armstrong's series and travel to her YA series as well.

Rating

A fun, thrilling PNR to sink your teeth into.Recommended for adults. Violence. language, sex, frightening themes and gore tangled with a range of everyday human feelings like betrayal, anger, jealousy and lots of testosterone!!

3/4- PNR, Werewolves

BWB Discussion Questions


1.Let's talk relationships. What did you think of Elena's relationship with Philip? Were her feelings for him genuine? Why or why not? I think they were mixed, I think Elena loved the idea of Philip, I think she wanted to hold onto every aspect of human life without wolf tendencies and that included a human clueless boyfriend. He was a nice character just not Clay..........

2.Keeping secrets from someone you love, is it being true to yourself? Elena was hiding out in Toronto and away from the Pack. Did this make Elena a stronger character or whiny? At first it could seem whiny...but Elena felt very violated and betrayed by being bitten. I think she needed the time hiding out to realize who she was and how her life was going to change.

3.Kelley Armstrong's werewolves lean more towards the traditional side of the wolf legend. What "were" type are you? Do you enjoy the pain riddled, desiring human flesh werewolves like the Wolfman or the intensely scary wolves like in the movie Silver Bullet or do you prefer painless shifters that keep a majority of human emotions...ie..Twilight and other light PNR novels? When I try connecting to a wolf character I think the more light shifter, the kind featured in Twilight or even Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver work better for me. I liked that Armstrong's central pack still carried somewhat human control. The scary one's who just want to eat people come off as complete monsters, which are good for a scare but not to connect to in a book. BTW Silver Bullet scared the crap out of me when I was a kid and watched it.....when it was the priest....ahhhhhhh.......

4.Could you forgive the man you loved if he were to BITE you like what occurred with Elena?
hmmmmm...I think over time I could. And I think when it was all said and done Clay really didn't mean to hurt Elena, he loves her. I'm a big sap- I think love can conquer all-

Bitten HBIC Review: Emily @ What Book is That?

Title: Bitten
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Page Count: 436 pages
Publisher: Plume
Genre: urban fantasy
Copy for review was from my personal library

50 words or less: As the only female werewolf ever to exist, Elena has her fair share of issues to contend with. While she's busily trying to concoct a "normal" life among humans for herself, she finds out that her past has never really left her, and maybe, just maybe, the perfect guy and life for her has been waiting the whole time. Maybe.

I had Bitten on my bookshelf for a long time; I've heard great things about this series and about this author's writing style, but just had never picked up the book before now (I have more books than I know what to do with- I'm sure someone out there can relate.) I'm glad that I finally got to it, though, as this is an engrossing book from start to finish.

Elena is someone who definitely needs someone in her corner. She thought she had that in Clay, except instead of being only the incredibly loving and devoted lover she thought he was, was also a werewolf who, after accidentally biting Elena, turned her into one as well. This is important to the story because female werewolves before Elena were nonexistent, which means that's gone from being her regular old self to a definite person of interest in the male-dominated world of the werewolves. Come to find out, all of Clay's friends and family were werewolves too, so not only does Elena have to deal with what she perceives as deception and betrayal on Clay's part; she has to deal with the fact that everyone around her knew the truth and didn't tell her as well. So, she does what most people would do if they were backed into a corner and felt they had nobody on their side; she ran for it.

The story picks up when all of that is old news; Elena is working at a newspaper, living with her devoted if completely uninspiring boyfriend Philip, and doing an okay job of hiding her werewolf side from the rest of the world. That all comes crashing down too, when Elena gets word from Jeremy, the Pack Alpha, that Pack members are being harmed; going back to help with the search for the killers throws her right back in the ring with Clay, and with all of their unresolved issues and feelings.

While the relationship aspect of the story definitely plays second to the overall story of the werewolves and their search for the killers and battle with outsiders, it's definitely an important facet that determines the tone of the entire book. This is the story of Elena having to figure out what her place is in the world; is she a human who has some weird habits, or is she a werewolf who happens to be able to blend successfully into the human world? Elena honestly doesn't know, and much of the book revolves around her figuring that out. Unexpectedly, this was one of my favorite aspects of the story. I liked that Elena was not willing to sell herself short or let herself be anyone's prize, even Clay's, and while it usually bugs me to no end when a character doesn't know what he or she wants, I felt that it was pretty easy to understand Elena's position.

Elena takes a lot of heat for being indecisive and, as some would perceive, shallow and weak. I think that's not the case. Even though we as readers know that Clay is crazy about her and never meant to hurt her, either emotionally or physically, the bottom line is, he did keep secrets from her (granted, because he had to,) and that hurt her recently-blossomed feelings, heart, and confidence. Add to the mix that all of her friends were in on the secret (again, because it was their secret too,) but didn't tell her and it is a pretty isolating situation. For someone who's only ever wanted to fit in somewhere, suddenly finding out you were on the outside the whole time, and now are attracting attention for all the wrong reasons, would be pretty devastating. Elena has a change of heart throughout the course of the book, and seeing her start to develop a sense of self definitely motivated me to seek out the other books in this series.

My only complaint about this book is Philip, Elena's totally human, architect boyfriend. After awhile, I just got tired of him! He was a great guy- sending the flowers, calling to check in (but mostly to say he was unavailable), and to make vague promises that he never ended up keeping. I don't think he was a bad guy, per se, I just think he was about as interesting as watching grass grow and didn't get a lot in the way of character development; he was definitely there to serve as a contrast to Clay, but the point and comparison were made early on and didn't need to be hammered home over and over again.

Besides that, you all know how much I love a good shifter story, and this is definitely a good shifter story. I'm definitely on board to read more in this series.

Overall Grade: B+
Blog with Bite rating: 3/4

The Sand Dragon by Michael F. Stewart

HBIC review by Parajunkee.

The Sand Dragon by Micheal F. Stewart

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PJV's QUICKIE POV: Slow to start but worth the wait, this creepy thrill ride had me glued.  Stewart has a unique writing style that was like trying a new foreign dish. It took me a few bits, but once I acclimated myself to the taste...I was hooked.  The author also showed a deep understanding of the subjects talked about, each character had their own personalities and thumb-prints. You might not like those characters, but each were well-formed and an three dimensional, instead of the usual supporting characters in novels, who are usually just their for placers.

 REVIEW: Center stage is the discovery of what is believed to be a fossil in a very odd little trailer town that is centered around the tar sands and the company that mines them for oil.

You get the feeling that fossils are found a lot in the region, given that they are tar sands and dinosaurs had a habit of falling into them and becoming, well fossils, so of course the managers want to speed up this fossil extraction. They go over local girl, Kim Axon's, paleontologist, head and bring in a creepy cryptozoologist, Dr. Sebastien Bythell.  Quickly Kim begins to suspect that Dr. Bythell is up to no good, and is rather odd, when the fossil gets extracted over night.  As more and more characters are introduced and come into play, you begin to realize that something is strange about this town and because it is a horror story - something serious creepy.

When really screwy events begin happening, murders, a mysterious illness and more odd appearances by Dr. Bythell this town is plunged into utter chaos and mass hysteria is reached.  Now enters the survivors and their desperate fight to save their lives. You don't want to miss their story.

Like I said before, Stewart has a unique writing style and character depiction I very much enjoyed.  His character creation was by far the best part of The Sand Dragon. Each character had their own flavor and world building that was exemplary. Their bleak lives were thrust at you with nothing hidden, open for you to relate to, sympathize, or hate. I almost believed that this was a non-fiction, the characters were so very poignant. Not only that, his story telling was gritty and in-your-face that will leave you shivering and begging for more, that is if you like a bit of adrenaline...

RECOMMENDATIONS: This is an adult novel.  I recommend this for horror fans, if you've read liked, Koontz, King, etc., you'll enjoy this one.

BWB: 3/4

The Host Reviewers

Well I guess those tons of people that voted for The Host really wanted to read it. LOL.

Our die hard reviewers came through though, because of this we will not be having a Top Reviewer this go round...you guys rock though, and because of this I will be sending you BWB swag once it gets printed. T-Shirts and book marks! Yippee!

Check out our reviewers!

My 5 Monkeys

The Bibliophilic Book Blog

Blog with Bite site has launched!

Blog with Bite is a group review effort. The reviewers of BWB love the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres and are united to bring you the best reviews possible. We will also be discussing the book and looking into new and exciting authors in our beloved genre.

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The current BWB book is Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis.

Synopsis: Shelby’s been making a few mistakes lately, primarily with the boys. But, her stepmother is really overreacting, especially when she suggests to her father that they send her to brat camp! Her entire summer ruined, prom cancelled – in exchange for weeks in the wilderness with a bunch of other dysfunctional teenagers.

At camp Shelby meets Austin Bridges III, very mysterious…and awfully cute. But, Austin isn’t just your run of the mill hottie. He’s also got a few problems – well they are at brat camp – and he needs Shelby to help him out. Shelby can’t turn down a boy in need, but she might just get into a lot of trouble for this one.
If you are interested in joining BWB and review Never Cry Werewolf, go to the web site and sign up!

The deadline for signing up for Never Cry Werewolf is Sept 21st so get on over there! A new book will be chosen quickly following sign-up deadline.