by S.K. Dunstall ★★★★★ Can they live long enough to discover what they know? Wow! The sister duo that is S.K. Dunstall spins a frenetically-paced tale that leaves us simply breathless. They reach us with their complex characters and they … Continue reading →
by Steve Rzasa ★★★★★ Can belief survive First Contact? It’s true; we are not alone. Casimir “Caz” Fortel isn’t sure what god brought the Ghiqasu into Earth’s orbit fifteen years ago, but life on our planet hasn’t been the same. … Continue reading →
by Matt Mikalatos ★★★★★ What price would you pay to breathe? Wow! Just wow! What an absolutely brilliant, mesmerizing ride! The Crescent Stone is a thrilling journey of trials, challenges, and redemption in a magical world. Madeline Oliver is dying … Continue reading →
by Rachel Aaron ★★★★★ Who can defeat the titans? Rosalie Dumarque is driven to protect her home and to keep the protective walls standing. She’s been training hard and thinks she has what it takes to turn the battle for … Continue reading →
by Tessa Afshar ★★★★★ What does it take to free a thief? Thief of Corinth is a wonderfully engaging and swift-paced Christian historical fiction that drops you into its reality where you follow the scent of cloves, pine, sandlewood, and … Continue reading →
by Nancy Springer ★★★★★ Who buried their child in her backyard? Beverly unearths a child’s skeleton in her backyard and uncovers a 50-year-old cold case no one knew existed. The skeleton, clad in a rotted dress, shows signs of abuse … Continue reading →
by Kristen Ball ★★★★★ What happens when you drop a spoiled suburban American teen into a poverty-stricken area of Africa? Hannah enters A Calf Named Brian Higgins: An Adventure in Rural Kenya as a rather typical spoiled whiny teen used … Continue reading →
by Frank Tuttle ★★★★★ Strangely addictive insanity. The Markhat Files series is way too much fun. I couldn’t bring myself to stop and write up each book as I read it, so I’m binge-reviewing these books together (slightly delayed) because … Continue reading →
by Nadine Brandes ★★★★★ Who will he betray? His father? His king? Wow! Loved, loved, loved this mesmerizing reimagining of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Have you ever loved a book so much, you could wait to talk to your … Continue reading →
Written by Justin Wagner Illustrated Justin Wagner and Warren Wucinich ★★★★☆ Bizarre madcap mashup Pizzasaurus Rex is a rather bizarre comic that’s a mashup of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Dumb and Dumber, and Napoleon Dynamite, channels George Carlin, Matthew … Continue reading →
Created and written by Yehudi Mercado Illustrated by Bachan Colors by Jeremy Lawson Letters by Daron Bennett ★★★★★ Can Primo save the galaxy AND his family? He’s going to try!!! Rocket Salvage starts at a dead run and never slows … Continue reading →
by Nao Sakamoto and Kamo ★★★★★ Cute and quirky drawings with instructions With How to Draw Almost Everything for Kids: An Illustrated Sourcebook, Nao Sakamoto and Kamo provide help for beginning artists. Whether you’re a kid or adult and want … Continue reading →
by Sho Ito ★★★★★ Gorgeous illustrations with clear instructions With Brush Pen Illustration: More Than 200 Ideas for Drawing with Brush Pens, Sho Ito provides a comprehensive text that will help beginners and novices alike. It feels like a private … Continue reading →
by Melissa McShane ★★★★★ Can Helena survive long enough to solve the mystery? The Book of Peril (The Last Oracle #2) is a fantastical twisty sequel to The Book of Secrets! Helena’s stuck in a steep learning curve as she … Continue reading →
by Michael J. Sullivan ★★★★★ Deeper and darker…what a ride! I just love this whole series so far, and what a reminder! To do this book justice and remind myself of the story so far, I went back and read … Continue reading →
by Kerry Anne King ★★★★★ How can I like this story? How can it bring both pain and joy? Whisper Me This is not what I expected; it’s a much better story, deeper and more thoughtful, than the description would … Continue reading →
by Garfield Kwan and Dana Song ★★★★★ Cute, humorous, and memorable science lessons Squidtoons: Exploring Ocean Science with Comics has it all: cute colorful illustrations, quirky kid-friendly humor, and fun science lessons. The NetGalley proof only included the seadragons section … Continue reading →
by Ashlee Piper ★★☆☆☆ Judgemental and error-prone, has some good info, tho Truly, we have to step up, and I hoped Give a Sh*t. Do Good. Live Better. Save the Planet. would help me do it. But I have a … Continue reading →
by Melanie Dickerson ★★★★★ Sweet fairytale romance… can an orphan Saracen win a Lady’s heart? Aladdin is transplanted from his homeland to a European orphanage, where he becomes friends with the daughter of one of the orphanage’s patrons. Through their … Continue reading →
by Jeff Wheeler ★★★★★ Can she survive the collision of her worlds? Cettie Pratt is an orphan living in the Fells, an area of starving, debt-enslaved, deed-contracted, ground-bound poor. Sera Fitzempress is royalty, living aloft in a luxurious castle floating … Continue reading →
by Rachel Bach / Rachel Aaron ★★★★★ What’s a girl got to do to save the universe? Okay, Devi just wants the fast track to her goal, she’s done eight full-fire tours in five years, she’s got a beautiful custom … Continue reading →
by W.R. Gingell ★★★★★ Original, poetic, and dreamy with comedic timing There is a slow dreamy feel to this book, a slow wandering through a mystery. This book reminds me of those poems where the shape and rhythm match the … Continue reading →
by Rabia Gale ★★★★★ Rainbird may be a despised half-breed, but she may be just what the world needs Rainbird is an exotic scifi-fantasy-steampunk story that throws you right into the middle of a strange and original world. Rainbird works … Continue reading →
by Garth Nix and Sean Williams ★★★★★ Have sword, has attitude … Loved the story and characters so much! Eleanor has wanted to be a knight her entire life, while Odo… well, Odo knows he doesn’t want to be a … Continue reading →
by Newt Gingrich ★★★★★ I expected to hate this book, but I was wrong… Americans, even the most jaded liberal, generally accept that the mainstream media doesn’t care for Donald Trump and is more than a bit biased toward the … Continue reading →
by Rabia Gale ★★★★★ Who ripped Arabella’s spirit from her body? Arabella’s wandering around looking for her friends in a not-so-nice part of town, when Trey comes to her rescue. While she’s assuming that he’s there to help her navigate … Continue reading →
by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach ★★★★★ What if your favorite game was real and built on a lie? So many players use Forever Fantasy Online (FFO) to escape their real life, whether it’s due to stress, low self-esteem, or … Continue reading →
If the Princess Bride and Terry Pratchett had a love child – Well, but then there are probably genetic crosses to Garth Nix, Diana Wynne Jones, Brandon Sanderson, Ransom Riggs, and others. Stop trying to imagine what that would look … Continue reading →
by Vin Vogel ★★★★★ Can Leo belong to two families? Two completely different worlds? Wow! Loved, loved, loved this children’s picture book! It’s original and fresh while clearly illustrating how Leo can be loved by two entirely different families. As … Continue reading →
by W.R. Gingell ★★★★★ Two fae and a vampire move into your house, what do you do? Hide and spy on them, of course! Loved, loved, loved Between Jobs (The City Between Book 1)! Pet, a 17-year-old squatter, has woken … Continue reading →
by Jay Kristoff ★★★★☆ Who is truly human? LifeLike feels like a mashup of Mad Max, Terminator, Total Recall, and various mythologies. It’s really written for the younger generations with its constant use of slang and incomplete sentences, using repetition … Continue reading →
by John McCain and Mark Salter ★★★★★ We are more alike than different… There’s so much wisdom in this book, The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations, about choosing what’s right and honorable over party, over … Continue reading →
by Charlie N. Holmberg ★★★★★ When a bookish girl studies to be a plastic magician, her peculiar talents might just be world-changing… …if Alvie Brechenmacher and her mentor can outwit a dangerous rival. Alvie is apprentice to Marion Praff, a … Continue reading →
by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★ Can Ivan prove he’s actually related to his cousin Miles? We all know that Ivan is anything but an idiot, a favorite descriptor (Ivan-You-Idiot) of cousins and compatriots, but he manages to skate through life … Continue reading →
by Nancy Springer ★★★★★ Nancy Springer has still got it! The Oddling Prince is a wonderfully fantastic story of two brothers. One, Aric, has been raised as the king’s heir; the other, Albaric and son of the Queen of Elfland, … Continue reading →
by Connie Willis ★★★★★ Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Connie Willis has a way of writing stories that engage us but more importantly that capture the complexity and conflict in defining moments and force us to resonate … Continue reading →
by A. M. Morgen ★★★★★ Can George change his luck? The first few paragraphs of The Inventors at No. 8 sweeps aside a family – and several servants – in a one-day streak of bad luck that spares only the … Continue reading →
by Oana Befort and Maggie Reinbold ★★★★★ Gorgeous, fascinating, and helpful Drawing Wild Animals: Essential Techniques and Fascinating Facts for the Curious Artist is everything I love in a book! It truly is for the curious artist! The illustrations are … Continue reading →
Disney Manga by Haruhi Kato ★★★★★ What happens when you’re a fairy who’s different? Rani is a fairy with a disability; unlike all the others, she has no wings. She sacrificed them to save Mother Dove. But when Rani tries … Continue reading →
by L. Penelope ★★★★★ That ragpile on the path is trouble; it just happens to be a man. Jasminda doesn’t need trouble. She’s on her way home from a trip to town and worried about losing her home, being asked … Continue reading →
by Jessica Day George ★★★★★ What if everything you knew was a lie? Anthea has been passed from home to home since her parents’ death. She wants only to be a proper young lady that a family would want, to … Continue reading →
by Tom Reynolds ★★★★★ Can Midnight find what was lost? This novella is a great peek into the psyche of Midnight, letting us understand more about the legendary man who lived, worked, and fought with and against metahumans. Midnight is … Continue reading →
by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★ Bujold’s wit rides again Mira’s Last Dance: Penric & Desdemona Book 5 is the shortest Penric novellas so far, and yet it is in many ways the most enjoyable. It is a brief sojourn into … Continue reading →
by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★ Where there’s a demon, there’s a way. The Penric novellas are must-read if you love Bujold or fantasy. While they’re short and rather episodic novellas, the books are deep, mystical, and thoroughly enjoyable and each … Continue reading →
by M.C. Dwyer ★★★★★ WOW!! Not your mom’s Beauty and the Beast ! Just wow! Having read Dwyer’s stories in Still Waters: A Noblebright Fantasy Anthology and Fell Beasts and Fair: A Noblebright Fantasy Anthology, I grabbed Bleddynwood the minute … Continue reading →
by Amy A. Bartol ★★★☆☆ What happens when you mash-up Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, and Cinder? I wanted to like this book. Despite a few days of pondering and trying to come up with a more positive review, for me … Continue reading →
by Joyce Magnin ★★★★★ What a tangled web! Honey Moon borrowed a family heirloom – a locket – from her mother, and during a sleepover with friends, it’s gone missing. Honey must solve the mystery of who took her locket, … Continue reading →
Disney Manga by Shiori Kanaki ★★★★★ When Tinker Bell and Vidia find Lizzy’s fairy house Tinker Bell accidentally gets locked in and captured. Hijinks and fairy trouble ensue. Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue a sweet Tinker Bell story converted from … Continue reading →
