Review: Seekers by R.A. Denny

SEEKERS

Mud, Rocks and Trees, Book Two

by R.A. Denny

YA Fantasy / Adventure

281 pages

"Bring the seals together in Tzoladia and you will learn their secrets." An intriguing, yet simple quest. But nothing is ever that easy. 

Killer monkeys lurk in the woods. Treacherous watchers skulk the underground tunnels. An evil emperor's minions control the archipelago city. 

Brina is proficient in archery. Moshoi skillfully wields the swords he crafts. Amanki has mastered sailing. But those skills aren't enough. The three young adventurers must make choices. Choices that mean life or death. Choices with no safe answer. 

The Society of the Word has given them tools: wise sayings, moral stories, mysterious prophecies. But their faith will be tested. Will the star guide them to their destiny or lead them to their doom? Who will survive?

 MY TIDBITS

After reading the first book in this series, I was excited to see where the tale would take the heroes next. This book holds even more depth and excitement than the first. Book two does start there where the first book left off, which means it is better when read as a series.

That said, there were so many more layers to this tale than in book one. The story shoots off into three different story lines, each one as interesting as the other. The switch between them was never confusing, but rather held the excitement high as each group dealt with their own challenges and problems. It's hard not to cheer for the characters as they end up facing much tougher trials than they thought they would. And some of them are very harsh. The tension and adventure remain high the entire way through, never giving a breath to boredom. 

Although we got to know the characters in the first book, they continue to gain depth in these pages. It's a delight to get to know each one as new aspects to their thoughts, hopes and goals develop and change. But then, the world around them is just as exciting and detailed. It's a tale to get lost in in so many ways.

The religious aspects of this book are impossible to ignore, and slide into the story line with grace. The messages are clear without becoming preachy and mix right in with the plot. There are a few more vivid (gory) scenes, which might be a bit much for more sensitive readers. The author allows the circumstances to hit hard and doesn't flinch. But then, the characters are up against tough challenges, not to mention the increasing dark tone in the background which hints at more evil and excitement to come. 

And here she is...

R.A. Denny is an ancient history buff with a law degree from Duke University. While working as a criminal prosecutor by day, she escaped by night to create the fantasy world of her Mud, Rocks, and Trees series.

R.A. Denny loves adventure, animals, and history. She has traveled to the ancient rock city of Petra on horseback, flown through the jungles of Costa Rica on zip lines, and visited the Great Pyramid on a camel. She lives in Delaware. As a child, she had two pet flying squirrels.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ RADennyAuthor/

Goodreads: https://www. goodreads.com/author/show/ 13988866.R_A_Denny

Blog:  https://radennyauthor. wordpress.com/

Artwork: https://radennyauthor.wordpress.com/fantasy-art/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/r-a-denny

And since she loves to hear from her readers, feel free to contact her at radennyauthor at gmail.com

Review: Superhero High by T.H. Hernandez with Giveaway!

Superhero High 

by T.H. Hernandez 

Soul Mate Publishing

July 5th 2018

YA Adventure, Science Fiction

Sixteen-year-old Annarenee Stevens is the sole member of her family without a super power. The only time she feels powerful is in the pool. With her sights set on swimming for U.C. Berkeley, she’s ready to win it all at the State championship and secure her future.
When the government unexpectedly ends the secret Genetically Enhanced Asset (GEA) program, Annarenee is uprooted from Dayton, the only home she’s ever known, and relocated to San Diego with all of the other GEA families. Queen of her public school, Annarenee is just another zero at Superhero High, a school without any sports teams.
With the end of the program, her hero older brother now needs a college education, too, meaning the only way Annarenee is getting into Berkeley is on a scholarship. Her dream is slipping through her fingers, no matter how tightly she clings to it. To make matters worse, super hot superhero, Ren Gonzalez, is paying too much attention to her. The kind of attention that has Ren’s ex-girlfriend intent on making Annarenee’s life even more miserable.
But when heroes begin disappearing, zeros and heroes will be forced to team up in order to solve the mystery. If they don’t kill each other first.

Goodreads / Amazon

MY TIDBITS

Taking high school drama and mixing it with some superhero powers and mystery, this book is an easy read adventure to enjoy.

Annarenee is not happy to find out that the government has cancelled their superhero program, which has been the center of her parents' and brother's lives. Although she herself is a 'zero', a person without any special abilities, she is part of the family and must move with them to California. There, the government has set up a type of superhero village to keep an eye on their people, while they learn to adapt to a normal life. For Annarenee, a girl who was popular and a state level swimmer before, a high school full of superheroes is automatic nightmare. Although she finds a few friends, some of those with powers aren't willing to accept zeroes. Take this challenge, add some disappearing teens and Annarenee is about to embark on a high school experience far beyond anything she could have dreamed.

This book is very smooth and easy to read. Excitement, action or simple intriguing layers of mystery hit every page, making it a steady paced novel. Set in high school with teens, the plot rotates around all sorts of social issues and will feel very familiar to teen readers. Annarenee is not the ugly duckling, but still, has to conquer some easy to relate to issues. Bullying, peer pressure and social bordering are topics hit in these pages. But that's not all.

The story can be broken down into three segments: Annarenee at her home high school and usual life, the new start in California with all of it's social issues, and the mystery of disappearing teens. There's a lot packed into these pages, and the sections run together nicely. The structure allows the reader to get to know Annarenee well and sympathize with her before throwing her world head over heels. The mystery at the end was a treat and almost the only part of the book where the superpowers really came into more play.

The ending of the book wrapped things up nicely and left a satisfactory smile. It did, however, come across a bit rushed and too easy to solve. Annarenee's sudden realization at the end of her importance came across a little forced and didn't completely mirror what role her character had taken during the read. Still, these things are nit-picky when compared with the fun read. And it was a fun read.

And here she is... 

T.H. Hernandez is the author of young adult books. The Union, a futuristic dystopian adventure, was a finalist in the 2015 San Diego book awards in the Young Adult Fiction category.
She loves pumpkin spice lattes, Game of Thrones, Comic-Con, Star Wars, Doctor Who marathons, Bad Lip Reading videos, and all things young adult, especially the three young adults who share her home.
When not visiting the imaginary worlds inside her head, T.H. Hernandez lives in usually sunny San Diego, California with her husband and three children, a couple of cats, and a dog who thinks he’s a cat, affectionately referred to as “the puppycat.”
You can find her online at http://thhernandez.com 

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Author Paul T.H. Mitchener and Between Darkness and the Light

BETWEEN DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT

The Moonstone and the Host

by Paul T.H. Mitchener

Brown Dog Books

YA Adventure

A young, bored and confused teenager is thrown into an adventurous world that he believed only existed in books and dreams. Henry is destined to become the next Host Master and to lead the everlasting fight between the darkness and the light. The Wyvern, an ancient creature of mythical powers and defender of all things living, has to find a host to be able to dwell in this world. It chooses Henry. After his encounter with Bert and the odd dog Ben in the woodland, Henry s life would never be the same again: as well as finding his only true love, he s told that his mother and aunt had kept from him that they were creatures of nature and guardians of the woodland and commanded great powers. Henry has to find a way to grow up fast and find the strength to face up to both his own demons as well as those sent by the Shadow Master, a powerful sorcerer, who has the power and the aid from dark allies to destroy life and spread darkness across the world.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40498514-between-darkness-and-the-light

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Between-Darkness-Light-Paul-Mitchener/dp/1785452428 

And here he is...

I now live in a small picturesque village called Penton Grafton in Hampshire, which consists a large duck pond, a village green where cricket is played most Sundays during the summer and a 14th century church. Penton Grafton is about four miles away from our nearest large town of Andover. Andover is briefly mentioned in my book.

One of seven children and a son of a farmer, I spent all my childhood playing in the countryside. I was born in the same house that my parents lived in for all their married life. Unfortunately, I had very pour education. That, added to the fact that I suffer from dyslexia, meant that I didn’t just struggle with the written word all of my life, but I also had to work twice as hard as others in many aspect of life. That said, I have never allowed it to hold me back from anything I wanted to achieve. I’m now retired but before that, I was a Managing/production director of company that made armoured and stretched luxury limousines for royals and dignitaries, mainly in the Middle East. I spent the best part of fifteen years travelling the world on business and met many of the royals as well as famous celebrities. Since retiring, I took a two year full time collage course in countryside conservation which is a subject that I’m very passionate about and despite my disorder, I achieved top grades and best student of the year.

Between the Darkness and the Light is my first novel but I’m now in the process of writing a sequel, my motivation for this book comes in two parts. Firstly, to become a published author has been on my bucket list for years now. I’ve always envied anyone who could write, especially writers like Terry Brooks, who have the skill to capture a moment in time and develop such interesting strong characters, so, I needed to prove to myself that someday I could write a novel. Dyslexia can be a very debilitating condition which is often overlooked, so I wanted to prove not just to myself but to others that suffer from it, that if they really worked at it, they could do the same and nothing should hold them back from reaching their own potential. I managed to achieve more than most and much more than I had hoped; but it has been a long hard uphill battle.

Secondly, I have a passion for nature and although my book is fantasy it is set in the here and now. The message I wish to get across to my readers (especially teenagers) is that we must start caring for the world in which we live. One of the main reason for choosing a teenager as the main character was to try and take others of the same age on a journey of discovery but with a teenage prospective, his first love, his new-found passion for nature and other living beings; but more importantly, discovering himself. What makes my book important to me are the characters and the location in which my book is set. Most of my characters are a mix of people that I know or have known in the past, although the people I know are interesting characters in their own right, it was fun putting them all in a mixing pot and creating new and more interesting characters. The location is set in and around the town of Whitchurch, an area where I was born and raised, the woodland was where I used to play as a child, there’re both places I still hold very dear to my heart.

The whole story of my book is set around one teenaged character (Henry Harris). Henry a confused, lazy and often very moody young man and now having left full education he has no idea what he wants from life. I’m sure most, if not all teenaged readers can relate to him, especially his relationship with his family. Henry eventually finds himself but only with the help, support and love from those that care for him most. The only message I wish to get across to teenagers is, that they don’t have to face life’s trials alone, if they have family and friends that love them and support them there is nothing in this world that they couldn’t get through.

Review: A Girl Named Blue by Cecilia Randell with Giveaway!

A Girl Named Blue: The Adventure Begins

The Adventures of 

Blue Faust #1 

by Cecilia Randell

July 15th 2017 

YA/NA Adventure, Romance, Science Fiction

Blue Faust considers herself an ordinary girl. A little shy, maybe, and a smidge isolated. But she’s got a plan for that, and a list.
When she and her mother move to a new city, she implements it. This will be The Year of New Things, and there will be adventures. Little does she know just how right she is.
While out hiking one day with new friends, she finds herself in a strange world. She is confronted with kidnappers, stubborn beast-mounts and killer crystals. Throw in an assortment of hooligans, mercenaries and clansmen, and Blue has all New she can handle.
New List:
Learn to ride a horse-like thing
Find friends
Stop kidnappers
Get home
Easy, right?
*** Please note that this is the first book in a slow burn reverse harem series, there are no sexy times till a few books down***
**Also, there is violence and some swearing, so, yeah.**

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

MY TIDBITS

This is a book with stumbles, oddities, a parade of beginning glimpses into certain characters, and yet, it grabbed me to the point where I couldn't put it down.

Blue Faust is still battling with the loss of her father and trying to find footing along with her mother to jump start their lives again. After a move, she's about to enter a new school and has a list of ways to go beyond her boundaries and attack life head-on—a way to honor her father's memory. When a hiking trip with her new found friends lands them on a different world, they find themselves caught up in the middle of a huge, 'alien' conspiracy. Blue's idea of finding new adventures in life now takes a spin which isn't only beyond her wildest dreams but is simply dangerous.

Blue is a strange girl and was hard to connect to at first. She supposedly has switched schools many times in her life. . .so should be a fairly normal teen but with issues. Instead, she comes across as extremely naive, socially challenged (at best), and almost as if she as no idea how life in high school normally functions. Still, there's something about her which was intriguing, and as the story continues, she grows and matures. Not completely but enough to make it hard not to cheer for her.

This is a reverse harem romance and a very slow burner at that (something I appreciate). From the guys' side, it's love at first sight. Always. Instantly. Without question. Which made me wonder if there is/will be some sort of alien power about her later on. . .or maybe not. In any case, despite her lack of any special traits (except blue hair and being relatively small), guys can't resist her. That is something some readers will be okay with and others not. However, from Blue's side, there is little to no interest during this first book. Another thing I appreciated. She has her hands full, completely. She's dealing with her father's death, finally connecting to her mother, figuring out where her life should go, caught up in an alien world, thrown into deadly dangers. . .yep, she has enough on her plate without heading into romantic tug-a-wars too.

While the first chapters hit teenage drama in a high school setting, the exciting, sci-fi action starts a little later on. And it works. The author takes the time to let Blue and the 'normal' earthlings gain a sure footing before fantasy sets in. And when the other worlds unfold, it's no problem to sink right into them. The settings are well described and the logic founded enough to make it pretty easy to follow along. As the layers of conspiracy and intrigue later start to unravel, it does get more complicated, and there are enough levels left to hit off to the rest of the series. One that promises to be interesting, especially when taking into account the extreme corners Blue's future harem of men seem to be coming from. It will be interesting to see how all of this somehow pulls together.

And here she is. . .

 

Cecilia Randell is the pseudonym for a lady author that has not quite worked up the courage to give you all her real name. She loves a good story, and often finds herself thinking “what if…”, so decided to put some of her ‘what ifs’ down in words for others to, hopefully, enjoy. 

Website / Goodreads / Facebook

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Happy Book Birthday, Prince of the Sun, Princess of the Moon By M.R. Anglin with Giveaway!

Prince of the Sun, 

Princess of the Moon

By M.R. Anglin

YA Fantasy/Adventure 

Published by Clean Reads

For years the Moon Palace in the Valley of Aijalon and the Sun Tower in the Plains of Jashar has stood as testaments to the power of the sun and the graciousness of the moon. Helio and Lumina, Guardians of the sun and moon, kept watch over them and the Prince and the Princess who ruled them. But the Prince and Princess are missing, and the sun is exhibiting strange behavior. Now Joshua and his younger sister, Deborah, must untangle a web of lies and deceit to uncover the secret of who they really are and save their world from an imminent disaster brewing in the heavens. And they must hurry. Between the earthquakes, the sun and moon standing still in the sky, and the planet Jants hovering closer than it’s ever been, the planet could be torn apart before they have a chance to do something about it.

 

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SNEAK PEEK

“Mr. Delango.” Mrs. Blaine’s voice sliced through the air, jarring Joshua out of his thoughts.

He jumped to his feet. “Yes, ma’am.” All around him snickers erupted as each of his classmates stared at him. Joshua stifled a groan. Judging by their reaction, he had missed something important.

“Perhaps you would like to elaborate on our topic?” Mrs. Blaine motioned to the blackboard.

Joshua winced. He had been staring out of the window and had no idea what she had been talking about.

His best friend, Neil, shrugged. With his skin the complexion of milk and Joshua’s the complexion of chocolate, Neil always said together they were two halves of the best drink ever to have been invented.

But now he shook his head at Joshua. “I tried to warn you,” he mouthed.

Joshua cleared his throat. “You are doing such a fantastic job at explaining this, Mrs. Blaine, I can’t elaborate.” He punctuated the remark with a smile meant to charm her.

“I think you can.” Mrs. Blaine pointed to the board. “Why don’t you come up and fill out this diagram?”

Joshua bit back a comment and made his way to the front of the classroom. The walls were white, and though Mrs. Blaine had set a plastic, potted tree in the corner, there were no posters or papers on the walls . . . just a blackboard where Mrs. Blaine wrote her lessons . . . not at all like the other teachers’ classes with their motivational posters and charts plastered all over the walls.

“No distractions for wayward thinking children,” Mrs. Blaine had said the first time someone remarked on the lack of decoration.

Joshua took the chalk from her and approached the blackboard. Empty spaces in the diagram she had written mocked him, but the words, “Planet/Celestial Body” and “Guardian” were written in separate columns at the top. At least Joshua knew what she was talking about now—the solar system and its Guardians.

“Fill it out.” Mrs. Blaine smirked. “Unless you aren’t smart enough to goof off in class and still retain the information.”

Again his classmates snickered.

Joshua took a deep breath and studied the diagram. Then he raised his chalk and wrote:

Planet/Celestial Body	Guardian
Sun	Helio
Chern	Maro
Marte	Cero
Melíne	Alandri
Geon	N/A
Geon’s moon	Lumina
Arion	Lucin
Jants	Junen
Rindt	Rin
Nuardt	Urin
Plútz	Plandte

Once finished, he faced Mrs. Blaine. “Is that correct?” He held out the chalk to her.

No one snickered now . . . well, except Neil. His face had surged red with the effort of stifling his laughter. To date, no one had bested Mrs. Blaine at her game to humiliate students who weren’t paying attention. In fact, Mrs. Blaine herself stared at the diagram Joshua had written with her mouth set.

Her eyes narrowed. “Go sit down.”

Joshua shot a smile at her as he went.

“See me after class,” Mrs. Blaine said.

Joshua winced. One smart gesture too far.

“The rest of you, commit this chart to memory.” Mrs. Blaine tapped the blackboard. “It will be on the test next week.”

“Dude, are you crazy?” Neil leaned over to him as Joshua sat. Joshua had to bite back a smile. His friend acted like he had been the one called in after class. “She’s going to hate you now.”

Joshua shrugged. “I’ve got more important things to worry about.”

“Like what?” Neil whispered, copying the diagram.

“Like . . .” Joshua stared full into the sun. “I think the sun is off by two minutes.”

Neil paused in his writing. “What?”

“The sun.” Joshua glanced at Mrs. Blaine to make sure she wasn’t watching. “It should be a little to the right. It’s in the wrong place.”

“Have you been moon-bathing or something? You’re as batty as a night-person.”

Joshua scowled at his friend. “Don’t say that.”

But Neil went on, ignoring Joshua’s annoyance, or . . . more likely . . . not noticing it at all. “The sun can’t be in the wrong place. It’s impossible.”

“Maybe.” Joshua could overlook his friend’s oversight. After all, he didn’t know how offensive the saying was. “But I’ve done the calculations over and over—”

“Done the calculations?” Neil snickered. “What do you know about calculations like those? There are smart people in the capital whose job it is to watch the sun. Don’t you think they would have said something if the sun was in the wrong place?”

“I guess . . .” Joshua faced the front of the class where Mrs. Blaine continued her lesson. He wrote the diagram down, more to get his mind off of the nagging feeling in the back of his mind than because he needed to remember it. Neil was right; Joshua had to be wrong. After all, Helio, the Guardian of the sun, was the epitome of precision. The sun would never drift out of position on his watch.

Still . . . a feeling, like a stone sitting in his stomach, told Joshua something was amiss. He had seen the sun doing strange things before. The other day he thought he saw it flickering, and the day before he was certain its rays were less intense than they should have been.

Joshua swallowed the knot rising in his throat and resisted the urge to fiddle with the gold necklace he wore hidden under his shirt. If something was wrong with the sun, he had more than filling out diagrams and studying for tests to worry about.

They all did.

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And here she is. . .

M.R. Anglin has always had a fascination with space—particularly the moon and stars. She also has three amazing nephews, two adorable “near-nephews,” and one brilliant niece, so it’s no wonder she eventually wrote a story that combines these loves into one. You can often find her gazing up at the Florida sky at night or hunching over her notebook/computer by day. She is the author of the Middle Grade novel, Lucas, Guardian of Truth, the self-published Silver Foxes series. She has also been included in the Coyotl Award winning anthology, Gods With Fur (FurPlanet 2016) and Extinct? (Wolfsinger 2017).

Facebook: http://facebook.com/authoranglin 
Twitter: @authoranglin 
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Deviantart: http://michelay.deviantart.com 
Website: http://lyeland.com
 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6425004.M_R_Anglin