Stepping into the world of fantasy always makes me feel like Alice In Wonderland, the irresistible urge to seek new lands and new treaBLOG TOUR DAY!!!
Stepping into the world of fantasy always makes me feel like Alice In Wonderland, the irresistible urge to seek new lands and new treasures albeit via a book is a magical journey that I believe all of us should undertake for sheer joy if it. Justin Newland’s The Old Dragon’s Head had something more to offer, a journey into a land that is as mysterious as the dragon on its cover enticing the readers into a wholesome adventure.
The story is set in the 1400s in the background of the Great Wall Of China amidst a raging power struggle and at a time when the beliefs of people were rooted in supernatural phenomena. Hence hearing voices and seeing visions are normal. For the past 20 years, the people of Shanhaiguan have been desolate with the absence of the Dragon Master and the Dragon pearl without which the Old Dragon cannot be summoned and it is this mystery that is layered excellently into the story that is just not a fantasy tale of dragons and humans.
Walking thru the lives of some brilliant characters, The Old Dragon’s Head explores coming of age in a totally new light. There are multiple POVs: Bolin is our reluctant hero, Feng has to fight for his true destiny, and Luli, the one with the ying yang eyes, is a soul-bearer and guardian of all things left behind by people. There are also several other characters like the Abbott Dong; Cui, the old soldier whose story becomes an integral part of the unfolding mystery, and of course Ru, the silent spectator whose mute misery affected me as a reader.
Like a sea with countless tributaries streams and rivers flowing into it, the lives of all the different characters merge into literally, an explosive firework display in the climax with a war being fought and aided by phantom beings on both sides. The author’s grasp of the era and culture of historical China was amazing and his writing captures the atmosphere for the reader incredibly. I also loved the amalgamation of all the different lives to a center point and it was exciting to see how a secondary character's past somehow becomes a central plot point of revenge.
The Old Dragon’s Head is thoroughly entertaining, fusing together history with fantasy, myths and magic, a mother’s love and revenge for family, hidden identities and coming of age, mystery, and intrigue, integrity and treason, thereby offering a highly compelling and mesmerizing ride for the reader.
Many thanks to HRPR Book Tours and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
I am so glad to be a part of this wonderful BLOG TOUR by DIGITAL READS PR. Thank you, @Shalini
A story that begins with a “Jane Eyre? Jane Austen?” senI am so glad to be a part of this wonderful BLOG TOUR by DIGITAL READS PR. Thank you, @Shalini
A story that begins with a “Jane Eyre? Jane Austen?” sentence can never go wrong in my opinion and Lost Coast Literary is a book lover’s dream come true. Books, books and more books, book therapist, book editor, a literary mansion, book themed parties, the world just comes alive in all its myriad glorious colors in Ellie Alexander’s Lost Coast Literary.
If there’s a mansion like The Ballard anywhere in this world, I want to visit it, stay in it, and luxuriate in it. Ellie Alexander creates a kind of helpless craving for the place and the cozy setup is a writer’s retreat and a reader’s holy grail. Emily Bryant is forced to visit Cascata a small town along the California Coastline to deal with her grandmother’s last wishes. The Ballard has been gifted to her depending on certain conditions but Emily wants nothing to do with Cascata or her extended family and especially with editing the forsaken manuscripts. But, of course, life has a few lessons in store for her.
The writing by the author is magical just like the magical realism knitted thru the realistic story of a woman finding her true self. The words by Ellie Alexander transports the reader to Emily’s world discovering the small and warmth filled community and its residents, her confusion in realizing that her editing gives her the responsibility of playing GOD in people’s lives, her frustration in not understanding the reasons of her father’s estrangement from her family, the snippets of memory that pops in which she is unable to trust, the reader is made to walk in Emily’s shoes and discover the soothing balm that the reading world imparts.
I would like to thank the author, yes of course for the delightful rapture that she engulfed me in, but also for providing a purview of the job of an editor. We all might know what it entails but here, the reader is made to see the event two-fold. Whilst Emily is editing, the reader gets the scene as a short story but then when things unfold in front of her own eyes, Emily is both a reader and an observer and thus a different perspective is offered to ‘us, the readers”.
It is easy to fall in love with almost all the characters in the story except for the dad. There’s nothing wrong with his arc but I wished that he was more fleshed out and the family reunion happened faster than I did expect.
Ellie Alexander dedicates her book to “For every reader who has found themselves through the pages of a book and in the process discovered who they were always meant to be.” Truly a book that needs to be read by anyone and everyone who loves books, Lost Coast Literary is that cuddly teddy bear for all rainy days.
Many thanks to Digital Reads PR and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
YAY….Today is my day on the blog tour for Behind The Veil by E J Dawson.
It was the cover image that drew me to this book in the beginning and then reaYAY….Today is my day on the blog tour for Behind The Veil by E J Dawson.
It was the cover image that drew me to this book in the beginning and then realizing that it had all the elements that I am partial to made me doubly glad.
E J Dawson’s Behind The Veil introduces its protagonist Letitia Hawkins inside the final moments of a father's mind who is regretting leaving his children. She uses a scrying bowl to provide comfort to those who have lost their loved ones but as the author brings in Alasdair Driscoll in the very first chapter with a silent specter looming over his shoulder, we get to see the price she has to pay for this incredible gift. It was a brilliant piece of writing by E J Dawson in getting the reader to experience the trauma of Letitia’s struggle.
Letitia is a character one could easily relate to, the past has shaped her into what she is and no amount of money would sway her to go against the lines she has drawn for accepting cases that she is uncomfortable with. She is soft with all her clients but unyielding to the rude and obnoxious ones. I loved how the author then clearly shows her compassionate nature by her acceptance to do things for a young girl going against her principles. E J Dawson also shows her character's preference to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and it was interesting to see a similar style of conversation being used in the story. The author is BANG ON in capturing that style of polite bollocking which thrilled me to the core. There was a peculiar charm to the evolving romance between Alasdair and Letitia because of the author’s nuanced writing technique.
The unhurried pacing of the story is another outstanding aspect. There is a gradual tightening of the screws as the true horror show begins with Nola’s nightmares. E J Dawson lures the reader in by showing Letiita’s encounter with the specter haunting Nola and when that is done, I was left with a false belief that there is another mystery waiting to be unraveled. But the story then explodes into missing children and a serial predator, Letitia being accused of being party to the crime, and the final culmination scene that had me gripping my kindle barely taking a breath.
It is not just the thrilling horror but equally, laudable is the author’s subtle manner in bringing Letitia's traumatic past to light. Using flashbacks and then confessions to Driscoll, the reader is made aware of the sacrifice she is undertaking in helping Nola and again I thought this was commendable as the author doesn’t say anything point blank, one is made to deduce the added pressure that Letitia is under in facing her worst fears. The romantic declaration needn’t have stretched to an additional scene, it surely could have been accomplished at the train station itself which is just a minor point in this well-crafted story.
If you are a fan of horror without gore then I do highly recommend reading E J Dawson’s Behind The Veil coz just like the heroine in this story, the author balances the fine line of horror and chills perfectly. Riveting and unputdownable, Behind The Veil is a must read for all fans of this genre.
CONTENT WARNING (as provided by the author): This book contains adult themes including miscarriage, suicide, pedophilia, death, murder, rape, and possession.
Many thanks to BlackThorn BookTours and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
Excited to be part of the BLOG TOUR for The Girl In The Corn by Jason Offutt.
Good Vs Evil has never been more apocalyptic!
Thomas Cavanaugh is just 6 yExcited to be part of the BLOG TOUR for The Girl In The Corn by Jason Offutt.
Good Vs Evil has never been more apocalyptic!
Thomas Cavanaugh is just 6 years old when waking up one day wanders into the cornfield in search of his mother and meets The Girl In The Corn, believing her to be a fairy. We then meet Thomas at age 10 seeing the fairy again, following her into a parallel world facing the Daudr and almost dying in the process. Simultaneously the author introduces Robert Garrett, Bobby who is 14 yrs old having dark dreams about a farm, dogs, and monsters ordering him to kill. As all the three central protagonists fall into place and their roles established, the action begins with excellent backup from supporting characters.
Jason Offutt’s The Girl In The Corn is a creepy horror fiction that mixes up a lot of genres brilliantly. Thomas’s journey from a young boy to adulthood and the realization of a dark force waiting to devour the world uses fantasy elements like fae and fairies and further blends into science fiction to produce a deeply unsettling and brutal thriller. There is a boatload of images that the author draws to satisfy the cravings of any horror fiction fan chiefly the girl with the lizard teeth but that never caused any impact on me. What did terrify me was how Jason Offutt creates these vivid and descriptive violent scenes of murder and gore thru Bobby who is frankly speaking one of the most horrifying antagonists that I have read about in recent times.
So that brings me to a minor complaint in this story, the characterization of Thomas. He is much more appreciable as a young boy but as his adult self, Thomas comes across as weaker and not hero mode enough. Yes, we do root for him to go on and finally succeed and I did feel this was probably a deliberate tactic by the author as like Thomas the readers are left wondering about THE GIRL IN THE CORN. Is she good or a monster as Sherriff Boyd believes whose experiences are anything but favorable! As readers are made aware of the mayhem that is running behind the scenes of Thomas’s view, Jillian evolves as larger than life and gives clarity to why the title of the story is what it is. Bobby’s change into a monster is sudden and it left me feeling flabbergasted as to how the switch happened but the author clearly sketches his deterioration into a cruel psychopath, a true vessel for the evil to feed on.
An ingenious and cleverly plotted concoction, The Girl In The Corn oozes terror.
Many thanks to BlackThorn Book Tours, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
A gritty and harsh short story, Two Turtle Doves is sure to leave you with goosebumps. The dark tale begins deceptively but explodes into a young boy’A gritty and harsh short story, Two Turtle Doves is sure to leave you with goosebumps. The dark tale begins deceptively but explodes into a young boy’s thoughts on revenge against the guys who bully him. The revenge scenarios that he creates inside his mind give a glimpse to the reader into the darkness that is hidden inside his soul. But once the guitar named El Diablo lands into the picture, this short story explodes into one of revenge and murder.
Two Turtle Doves reflects the lives of the rock stars of the yesteryears whose life have spiraled down to drugs and then sad deaths after achieving the fame that they have never dreamed of. Hardly a 20 min read, Two Turtle Doves is freaking awesome in that it brings into focus many of those dreaded topics like abuse, bullying, revenge and gruesome killings for such a short read.
Many thanks to Henry Roi PR and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
The Art of Murder is book #2 in Jordan Jenner Mysteries and is good to be read as a standalone.
PI Jordan has a new case, to identify the culprits of tThe Art of Murder is book #2 in Jordan Jenner Mysteries and is good to be read as a standalone.
PI Jordan has a new case, to identify the culprits of the gang Dirty Dollys who are sabotaging the artworks of major players in the industry. When Xander Draper approaches Jordan for help, little did he expect the turmoil of having the client murdered in front of his eyes, being shot at and hounded at his home. Stalked and harassed, Jordan’s resolve develops that much stronger to unearth the agenda of the Dirty Dollys.
Fast paced and exciting The Art Of Murder takes the reader back to the classical sleuthing techniques. The questions that lead the detective from one puzzle to another, the painstaking weeding of important details from the mish mash of debris being strewn about, following instincts that may land one in trouble, the author has plotted a good whodunnit which keeps the reader guessing till the end.
Jordan was a wonderful character, the ruminations on his flaws making him so endearing and loving. I do wish however that the action scenes had him coming out as a bit stronger as one would expect from a PI whose job is to face dangerous situations. I was under the impression that cozy mysteries have amateur sleuths so hate to classify this in that genre as the central protagonist is a PI but for the absence of gore, YES, the Art of Murder provides a comfortable read.
I would like to thank Emma at Damppebbles for providing a copy of this book as part of the blog tour which unfortunately got canceled.
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