Jack Templar Monster Hunter - Featured Author Review

Jack Templar Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus The Templar Chronicles #1 Genres: Fantasy, Children,    Action Adventure

     Jack comes from a long line of monster hunters. Unfortunately, he is unaware of this fact as he is an orphan and doesn't remember his parents at all. There is even more bad news for Jack, on the eve of his 14th birthday he learns that monsters will come crawling out of the woodwork with one goal in mind: targeting the powerful monster hunter. But they don't want to kill him, oh no, that would be too easy. They want to torture him until he begs to die and be put out of his misery.

Vic: Never Give up - Serial Sunday Review

Vic: Never Give Up by Jerry Gill Book 3 Vic Challenger Series Genres: Action Adventure, Romance,    Historical Romance, Fantasy

     Vic Challenger returns for another adventure in her quest to find Nu, the son of Nu. This time Vic and her friend Lin are headed to Scotland and London in search of an artist that Vic believes to be the reincarnation of Nu. Expecting a nice, quiet, fun vacation; the pair of adventurers stumble upon slave traders, strange beasts, and much more danger than they had anticipated. But never fear, for these super women are more than up to the challenge.

Killer Date by Kathy Clark - Book Review

Killer Date by Kathy Clark Book 2 in Scandals series Genres: Action, Thriller, Suspense,     Romance

     Your typical sleazy private detective. Reno Marks, former resident of Las Vegas, has had more than his share of women and one night stands and seems proud of that fact. When Jenny Caldwell walks into the office of Scandals Investigation Agency, Reno accepts her case, free of charge, simply so he can get to know her better. But there is more to Reno than meets the eye, even more than Reno thought possible. Jenny may be petite but she is a woman of strong character that draws Reno in. He finds that he respects her as much as he yearns to feel her curves against him, and this fact alone amazes him.

Destiny: Illusions by Daniel Rafferty - Book review

Destiny: Illusions - The Crime Of Our Ancestors by Daniel Rafferty Book 1 in series Genres: Science Fiction, Action Adventure

     Is there intelligent life on other planets? If so, how would those of us on earth react to such knowledge? Would we panic and assume they were hostile and become hostile ourselves? Would the aliens just become yet another culture subject to racial hate by the close minded people who already have such attitudes? Could we learn to live in harmony and trust without fear of differences? These questions make some wonderful food for thought. Author Daniel Raffety provides us with a scenario where aliens have come forth in peace and a friendly alliance is made. Both races benefit from shared technology and a seemingly strong bond is formed between the two planets. But when Earth falls victim to an attack from space will our underlying tendencies to distrust outsiders lead to a full scale intergalactic war?

Vic: Mongol - Serial Sunday Book Review

Vic: Mongol by Jerry Gill Second book in series Genres: Action Adventure,    Fantasy

     Vic Challenger is back for another exciting adventure. Set in the 1920's, a time when women were expected to only yearn for marriage and babies, Victoria Custer breaks the mold and sets her own standards. A courageous sharp shot who is just at home hunting a wolf and skinning it herself as she is playing with her guide's cute little twin girls.

Supernatural Hero - Book Review

Supernatural Hero by Eran Gadot Genres: Adventure, Fantasy,    Children, Paranormal

     Andy is a sixth grader who feels he has been over looked by life. His glasses, skinniness, and ineptitude at sports make him prime fodder for bullying by his older sister and all of the mean kids at school. Mostly ignored by his parents other than their unwanted concern for his mental state, Andy spends most of his time daydreaming about the prettiest girl in school and getting even with those who bully him. He also likes hanging out with his best - and only - friend Tom, who is a brainiac yet somehow still considered cooler than Andy.

Vic: Time Doesn't Matter - Book Review

Vic: Time Doesn't Matter by Jerry Gill and Edgar Rice Burroughs Genres: Action Adventure, Romance, Fantasy

     While Edgar Rice Burroughs is best known for his creation of Tarzan, he also created a character named Victoria Custer which was features in two short stories. These stories inspired author Jerry Gill to create additional chapters to tie the original stories together, which resulted in this novel.

CounterPoint - Book Review

CounterPoint by D.J.R Genres: Action Adventure, Paranormal

     This book has an incredibly interesting premise. Earth is merely an experiment on God's part, one of many different ecosystems set up throughout the galaxy. It is up to the angels to watch out over the experiment and keep it going. But something has gone wrong. Demons and monsters are spreading evil through the world exponentially and the archangels are debating if it is time to shut down the experiment. One family with special powers teams up with a few rogue angels to save the human experiment.

The Return of the King - Listen While You Work Book Review

What I listened to ...

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien Third book in The Lord of The Rings trilogy Genres: Adventure, Classic,    Fantasy, Young Adult Narrator: Rob Inglis

     Finally! The big epic battle of good vs. evil. Knew it was coming up somewhere in this book. All of the assorted beings we have crossed paths with (elves, dwarves, ents, etc) have put aside their own differences and banded together to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron and his own troop of fantastical creatures. The story is packed full of tension and suspense during this epic battle. Wonderful conclusion to the trilogy but in all honesty, I think this is a series of books that I really need to read on my own before attempting to listen to the audiobook. There is just so much going on that it is really quite easy to get lost.

The Black Lion - Book Review

The Black Lion by Anthony Karakai Genre: Intrigue, Action Adventure

     A team of super-secret agents, that don't officially exist, come together to learn that what had originally seemed like a simple case of a missing civilian has incredibly dark roots as they investigate further into a young woman's disappearance. The story is told from the perspective of one of the agents who has gone undercover and infiltrated the band of thugs thought to be responsible for the girl's abduction.

The Hobbit - Listen While You Work Audiobook Review

What I listened to ...

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Prequel to The Lord of The Rings trilogy Genres: Adventure, Classic,    Fantasy, Young Adult Narrator: Rob Inglis

     I chose this as the first audiobook to listen to because I had hoped that the fact that I had just seen the movie would help me with visualization. This may have been a mistake. I didn't take into account how different movies can be from the books. I was constantly expecting for such and such to happen and was surprised with entirely different scenes.

Project Cyclops - Featured Author Book Review

Project Cyclops by Thomas Hoover Second Book in series Genres: Action Adventure, Thriller

     This story is reminiscent of Die Hard in the fact that there is one rogue good guy working behind the scenes to foil an entire group of terrorists. Enter our hero, Michael Vance, whom we were originally introduced to in Project Daedalus and seems to have a profound talent for showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time ... or maybe fate has decided that it was the right place at the right time, since without his efforts the world as we know it would be terminally altered. Unlike Die Hard these terrorists are not looking to procure finances through theft, but by taking over a private experimental facility. This facility is history in the making, using a new technology to launch satellites into orbit. The head of this terrorist cell doesn't have to be a scientific genius - though he is - to realize that what goes up must come down. He plans to use the facility's capabilities to launch a nuclear bomb that can be delivered anywhere in the world and use this strategy as nuclear blackmail in an attempt to demand 800 million dollars from the President of the United States.

The Seventh Seal - Pick of the Month Book Review

The Seventh Seal by J. Thorn Book #1 in series Genres: Action Adventure, Dystopia,    Thriller

     John is drugged at a Halloween party and awakes days later to both personal and global horrors. Only the fluke - or was it divine intervention? - of his wearing a priest's costume saved his life. Religious zealots have some how taken over the military to kill off the entire population of those it deems as sinful and unworthy as they initiate their own coming of Revelations.

Project Daedalus - Featured Author Book Review

Project Daedalus by Thomas Hoover Genres: Action Adventure,    Suspense, Thriller

     What happens when the new Soviet government that has the engineers to develop a hypersonic airplane secretly gets in bed with the Japanese mafia who have the technology to create said airplane? Something that members of the CIA, NSA, and KGB are very determined to figure out and put a stop to. Add into the mix a rogue Russian test pilot, a freelance money launderer, and several double deals and you have one heck of an intriguing plot.

When Darkness Falls Part 3 - Serial Sunday Review

When Darkness Falls - Part 3 Sixth book in series by James Grippando Genres: Action adventure, mystery,    thriller, suspense

     In the final installment of this 6th book of Grippando's Jack Syteck sreies all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place so the reader finally gets that "aha!" moment where everything makes perfect sense. Some of the conclusion I had figured out already or at least had some suspicion that was close to the actual solution while other answers were a complete surprise.

     An excellent story which has certainly piqued my interest enough to add the book to the "more" folder on my Kindle to eventually grab more books of this series one day.

The Awakened - Pick of The Month Review

The Awakened by Jason Tesar First book in series Genres:Fantasy, adventure,    paranormal, suspense

     The book starts off with a prologue that is obviously modern day as there are helicopters etc. mentioned. The first chapter introduces us to a powerful family living within the Orudan Empire. No date is given but from context it is somewhere within the olden times, they have no technology to speak of. The father, Adair, is a Colonel within the Empire's army and governor of the city of Bastul. While investigating the beating and subsequent murder of an acquaintance, Adair also mysteriously disappears. The Empire gives all of his worldly possessions to his successor, which not only includes his home but his wife and son as well. His wife, Maeryn, is obviously upset over this turns of events. Especially when her new "husband" decides to have her son executed.

     The story line is very intriguing and worthwhile to read. I do however have some reservations. As a first book there are just so many unknowns and unexplained events, that I'm not sure I would regard it as a stand alone book. I find it very disappointing that so many authors today would rather split a long story up unto several incomplete books and call it a series than publish one big book. I find this practice quite disheartening. When I spend the time to read a book I want to finish the book with a sense of having enjoyed a story. With some of the series that I have read lately, I have more questions at the end of the first book than had been answered within it's pages.

When Darkness Falls - Part 2 - Serial Sunday Review

When Darkness Falls - Part 2 Sixth book in series by James Grippando Genres: Action adventure, mystery,    thriller, suspense

     I'm a bit conflicted about this month's Serial Sunday selection. It has deinitely taught me to do a little more research before I begin to read. The other two series that I have in mind require me to borrow the first book of the series, so I jumped the gun and selected something off of my kindle.

     This book is actually the 6th book in a series. I really don't like reading a book in the middle of a series. This book does make perfect sense without knowledge of previous stories, don't get me wrong. The author has provided the details required from previous adventures to catch the reader up to speed. But that is kind of a drawback too. This is a good, free, introduction to new characters and an author whose writing I am enjoying. I wouldn't mind reading the entire series some day, except that I already have some sense of what is going to happen. That can really take the fun out of reading a suspenseful book.

     All in all, the characters are enjoyable, I have noticed that I have even "cast" some of them even. When I read a story that is well described I can see it in my mind's eye. Sometimes the characters are just bland faces but when characters are really well defined I notice that I'm seeing specific actors in my ind's eye as well. Such is the case with this book.

When Darkness Falls - Serial Sunday Review

When Darkness Falls Sixth book in series by James Grippando Genres: Action adventure, mystery,    thriller, suspense

     Another big oops on my part. It turns out that this is actually the sixth book in the Jack Swytek series that I had downloaded in three parts. These have been on my kindle for almost a year and I had erringly thought that it was a three book series when I had started to read them for this month's Serial Sunday selection. After some debate, I decided that since both Amazon and Goodreads list the three parts as individual books, I will review them as such.

Review of The Moon Dwellers by David Estes

The Moon Dwellers by David Estes Book 1 of The Dwellers series Genres: Action Adventure, Romance,    Young Adult

     Adele is a Moon Dweller. A second class citizen in a world where the differences in the social and economic class structure is exceedingly prominent. Tristan is a sun dweller, one of the elite in a class of aristocrats. He isn't just one of the privileged few, he is the president's eldest son and heir to inherit the right to rule. Adele was just one in a crowd of many as Tristan remotely waved from a float in a parade passing by. Their eyes met, their gazes locked. Against all odds and reason, Tristan knew he had to find Adele. He had to meet her and talk to her. He felt an unexplainable pull towards her.

     You can't pigeonhole this YA fiction into one specific genre. It has all the elements of action & adventure, comedy, tragedy, romance, and suspense all rolled into one magnificent story by author David Estes.

Review of Trojan Horse

Trojan Horse by David Lender

     Extreme religious terrorists are plotting with a Saudi Arabian prince within the Royal family to over throw the government. They are stopped by an unexpected force. Twenty years later, the terrorists have reorganized themselves and have come up with a new diabolical plot. Can they be stopped again?

     A large amount of the story deals with Muslim traditions. While I found this information interesting, a lot of it didn't make much sense to me as I know nothing about the Muslim faith. Same goes with the intricate dealings in the world of finance banking, specifically in gas and oil.