DDBook Reviews

Lady Brinley has resigned herself to be a spinster and has a secret that will enable her to live by her own means. With a house party held by her sister's in-laws, she meets Lore. He has a history that he wishes to avoid. With her Father's interference, Brinley and Lore are pushed together and become unlikely allies. But both of them are in for a huge surprise as they learn that love and friendship can come at most inconvenient times.  Deborah Wilson has delivered another tasteful and lovely story of life for the ton and the conventions women were forced to endure. A lovely read with no swearing or characters acting in poor taste. This is a good clean read that reads easily and offers an engaging and humorous storyline. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves regency novels . I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

“Billions of universes run slightly parallel to our own universe; worlds full of infinite possibilities”                                                                                                                                                                                                 Varun Sayal – Foreword: Time Crawlers                                                                      click on the image to go to amazon In a literary world where it seems that shifter-, paranormal- and regency romance has taken over, is it still possible to find pure science fiction?  Varun Sayal has written six sci-fi short stories that remind of Asimov and his great science fiction feats.  Sayal writes technical and the emphasis of these stories is clearly on the science part of the fiction.  He explains the science behind the stories in highly technical language and through this provides a sense of truth to what he conveys.  The stories vary in structure and theme and

Wolves did not hope. They accepted life as it came and learned to flow with the path of their padding paws. One could not change the past nor predict the future, so to worry or mourn with regret the way things happened was foreign to animals of the wild. Cheree Alsop. Keeper of the Wolves (Kindle Locations 107-109). Kindle Edition.                                                                      click on the image to go to amazon The Keeper of the Wolves is one of the best shifter books I have read.  It is written from the point of view of Victus, a wolf forced to change into a man in the moonlight.  We meet him where he is captive a cruel man who whips him and places him on display as he changes.  Raised by wolves, Victus knows only how to be a wolf. Koya sees him in his cage and buys him from the Cruel One.  Joven her twin brother is not too happy with her but concedes that she may heal him.  Koya befriends Victus and through the crises surrounding their kingdom, Victus

"Magic.  Bright and brilliant and blue, it glowed in her eyes and shimmered beneath her skin.  It rushed through her blood, flickering visibly in her veins.  The same magic that existed in the elements."  In a world where magic has been declared illegal, magic users have gone underground to survive.  Ridley Kayne lost her mother in the magical catastrophe that caused the banning of magic and her father lost his business and now they live above her grandfather's old antique shop. Ridley desperately wants to have a good education so she works hard for a scholarship, but in her spare time, she is a thief who uses her magic to gain entrance and go about unseen.  When she steals a figurine from Archer Davenport's family she unwittingly becomes part of a world she had not known existed.  Together, Ridley and Archer travel to the magical underworld, discover the secrets her father kept from her.  Realise that she does not know everything about her best friend

Psychic Visions - Dale Mayer If you love crime with a dash of romance and some paranormal activity, then Dale Mayer's Psychic Visions series is one that you should read.  Each story has a strong female heroine and a sexy love interest who help her through a crisis and psychic events. Tuesday's Child starts the series with Samantha and her visions of crime as they happen and Brandt Sutherland the cop who ends up protecting and falling in love with her. Throughout the series, one character stands out.  Stefan Kronos, a powerful psychic and artist who assists the police with crimes they have trouble solving as well as mentoring the other psychics that he comes across through his friendships with police and characters from the different stories. The books give a respite from the love stories written only for the mushy side of love and highlight the problems that the characters have with accepting themselves and their shortcomings as well as trusting someone th

When I decided on my next book to review, I did not expect to see that it has been made into a TV series.  Imagine my further surprise when I watched the trailer and read the comments.  Some people actually judged it on a few minutes of trailer.  Some of the comments were that it was a Twilight for adults and that there was no plot in the books etc. Clearly, there is something wrong with me as I loved the series and literally counted the days until I could read the final book of  A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness. click on the image to go to amazon The story of Mathew and Diana is a romance, yes, but the books and story are so much more than just a romance.  Deborah has made such an effort to intertwine historical fact and popular myths into a riveting and spellbinding adventure.  The characters have to fight to find their place in the world, through time travel and magic as well as diplomacy and science.  The plot is intricately woven with a mysterious manuscript

Sins of the past... We all know that the past never goes away and has a way of surprising you when you least expect it.  Georgiana Martin finds herself alone in London after her brother's marriage to Carrow heiress Blair .  She finds herself in a blackmail situation which forces her to turn to Tristan, the proud head of the Carrow family and Duke.  There are only two problems, the two families are caught in a centuries-old feud and when they both were young they were in love. Tristan agrees to help her and they set off to the Martin family home in the country where they believe they would find answers. Little do they know that the snake in the grass is much closer to home than either of them thought. In the end, Georgiana must make a choice between her family and her love.  Will she make the right decision?  Read the story and find out.  It is available on  Amazon . I thoroughly enjoyed the book.  It has an engaging storyline.  What I did like is that there was n

I may have fallen into a book or two and have not been able to find my way back to the world.  I thought a quick share of some of the books I have been reading will keep everyone busy until I can post my next proper post. Here goes: click on the images to go to amazon: This one is still free on Amazon Hope you find something to read amongst these.  Stay warm and stay reading.

Heather Boyd - Distinguished Rogues There are so many Regency authors publishing that it is difficult to discern which authors deserve a closer look. Chills, the first book in the Distinguished Rogues series is free on Amazon and is where I found it.    The story is filled with humour and tension.  Pixie is n London to find a husband and Lord Ettington, her former Guardian is upset that he doesn't feature in her search.  Pixie has a way of ending up in the most improper situations and he has his hands full to try and protect her reputation.  It is a good read and really something that stands out amongst Regency Romances. Having said this, one is naturally apprehensive to read more novels in the series as sometimes it happens that the same recipe is used and only the names and small details change.  Heather Boyd, however, finds a way of surprising with each following book, each novel has an original storyline with characters that in no way represent the previous heroi

I received this book for review and was pleasantly surprised. It is a good clean story with enough chemistry and magic to keep tension throughout the story. At times you want to close your eyes at what Blythe does in order to help girls in atrocious circumstances. The most surprising is that she can convince a Marquess to change his gambling and womanizing ways by merely being herself. I would recommend this to teenagers as well as adults who like the stories without the racy content found in some of this genre. I would, however, like to point out that this is not a Christian book. Despite this, I still enjoyed the story as a whole and would recommend it to those who love regency romance as much as I d

IMAGINE A SILVER-HAIRED ELF, MYSTERIOUS IN NATURE AND DRESSED IN BLACK LIKE THE SHADOWS WHERE HE FEELS AT HOME... Now, add to this a young barmaid whose whole world is turned upside down during an attack on her village.  Forced to flee into the woods into the hands of the Elves living there.  With the appearance of a mysterious mark on her right arm her life changes dramatically.  In Cursed, Claire, Aeron, and Farron embark on their quest to find out what the mark means and why it appeared on Claire's arm.  Claire only wants to find her mother and Farron does allow her some leeway to search for her.  It does not take  Claire to get into trouble and as she thinks she is escaping from a prison she stumbles into a life-threatening situation.  She has to use her newly discovered magic to survive and is saved by Farron and taken to a Haven to heal. In Awakened, we pick up where Farron and Claire are on their way to Farron's mother.  They are ambushed by Lianna, an old

According to Wikipedia, this is the definition of a Cozy mystery.   " Cozy mysteries, also referred to as "cozies", are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. Cozies thus stand in contrast to hardboiled fiction, which features violence and sexuality more explicitly and centrally to the plot. The term "cozy" was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Detective Fiction ."   This is precisely what they are. Engaging crime novels without the guts and gore, some humour, primarily nosy female 'detectives' who make life difficult for the real ones. Kight romance, little or no sex and generally an easy read that holds your interest.   Usually, one can tell by the tone of the Title that you are looking at a Cozy mystery e.g.   The ca

If like me you loved Artemis Fowl and his adventures and are bummed out that the series has ended then you will be glad to know that there is something to continue your reading experience. Eoin Colfer continues his excellent, fast-paced storytelling with the W.A.R.P  series.  Currently, there are three books in the series.  In the first, we meet Riley a Victorian orphan who is sucked to the twentieth century when he accompanies his master Albert Garric, assassin-for-hire on a job.  Their mark was in the F.B.I Witness Anonymous Relocation Programme, under which witnesses were placed in the past to protect them. Riley ends up with Chevie Savano, a sixteen-year-old, who worked with the F.B.I as an official source of intelligence.  She and Riley end up running from Garrick through time and saving the world. I enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to all teens who love adventure and science fiction. Happy reading.

If you know the words 'Please sir may I have some more, you also know who said it and which book.  Oliver Twist, to some, is the best known of Charles Dickens' books.  Yes, A Tale of two cities and Great Expectations are also well known but did not honour being made into a Disney Animated Film or a musical. As with many books, the title character is not always the one that people end up liking.  In the case of Oliver Twist , the Artful Dodger is the character that steals the show and how appropriate for Terry Pratchett to take this lovable character and give him the Pratchett makeover. Those of us who have read the Discworld novels and novels such as Nation  know that anything is possible once Pratchett has taken a character into his world.  For some, it might be disappointing to realize that there was nothing magical in Dodger .  That is to say nothing magical as in the Discworld novels. Knowing who Dodger is and knowing the brilliance of Pratchett, one can

This is so very true.  Let me know in the comments what books you would like me to review.  I am working on my post on Dodger from Terry Pratchett as it does not fall in his fantasy genre as the Discworld novels do.

Artemis sighed with exaggerated patience. ‘You are no healer.  You are a sprite, p’sh ó g, fairy, ka-dalun.  Whichever language you prefer to use.  And I want your book.’ If you are looking for a fast-paced, intellectual fairy adventure and you fall in the age bracket from a precocious ten to a very imaginative 90+,   Artemis Fowl is a very good series to pick up.   Trust me you will not want  to put i t down and when you have read t he last book   The Last  Guardian  you probably would want to start again at the beginning. Artemis is a twelve-year-old boy.  He is in charge of the family’s business  and financial stability.  He no longer goes to school, although his  mother  does not know this.   His father is presumed dead and Butler his  bodyguard looks out for the boy although it is a challenge.  When Artemis comes up with a genius plan to capture an elf to trade  for fairy gold he becomes mixed up with a sprite, a fairy book that  holds  untold secrets, the

So many books, so little Time! I have been pondering on what to review next, there are so many books that should be mentioned and then I realized that I should probably start where my addiction started many years ago. As a young girl, I already fancied fantasy stories above true stories or just fiction.  If you added something or someone magical I would love it.  So one day I was at the school library, looking for something to read, but with a little more to the bone than Mary Norton's  Borrowers . I remember seeing the back of a book that said, MORT by Terry Pratchett .  Well, I had Latin at school and always looked out for deeper meaning in words and titles.  Imagine my amazement that in my hand I held a new world where Death is a character with so many things that can make you chuckle. I was so taken with Pratchett's writing that I ended up reading with a dictionary close at hand (as English is not my mother tongue) and I did not want to miss one phrase of

My goal? Write unforgettable, haunting stories that steal you away from the world and reveal to you your own hidden power and greatness . S.M. Boyce Meet Kara, who just wanted a hike to clear her mind.  Instead, she finds herself in a whole new world.  She stumbled on the legacy of the first Vagabond of Ourea, and now he is inside her mind!  She inherits a quest to unite Ourea, but the natives are not really inclined to listen to a Vagabond and then one from another world to boot. Braeden is a soldier who volunteers to guard her on her quest, but he has many secrets he isn't eager to share with her. Together they visit all the role players and have to navigate through betrayal and manipulation as well as the third person in Kara's head. Ourea is a world full of magic and wonder where possibilities are endless and death almost certain. This is a good clean Fantasy adventure and can be read by readers of all ages.  This will be a fun read for teens and young adults, a

This was an excellent read. A good thick book that never bored and constantly surprised with the twists and turns in the plot. There is witty humour and some amusing aside comments that make you feel as if you can see what happens through the eyes of the author. I will most definitely read the rest of the series. This is mostly a clean book but there are some adult scenes.

click on the image to go to amazon Today's Post is not a review but a message of a MUST READ.  Emigh Cannaday is the author of the Annika Brisby series.  The fourth of which was released a couple of days ago.  The series follows Annika who gets lost in the Balkans and ends up falling in love with an Elf assassin.  Their lives are never the same again and they are driven by their passions. Throw in a sexy brother in law Vampires, and Druids and you have an intense adult Fantasy that makes you want to scream and then cry when the author delivers surprising twists and turns in the plot.  The first book The Flame and the Arrow and the whole series is available on  Amazon . I loved this so much that for me it only comes second to the Cursed Magic series of Casey O'Dell . Make sure you put this on your to be read list.