Mini Reviews: The Iron Witch, Elouise & Jurassic Jane Eyre

6930002The Iron Witch (The Iron Witch #1) by Karen Mahoney

Freak. That’s what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna’s own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.

When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

Published in February 2011, borrowed paperback copy from my local library, 292 pages long. Goodreads View.

My Thoughts: While the Iron Witch wasn’t outstanding or even a completely new concept, I found it to be a quick and enjoyable read. It was just what I needed on a day when I was stuck in the house rugged up under a blanket with a cup of tea feeling under the weather. I’m not sure yet if I’ll go onto read the second book, but this one swept me off into a world with handsome half-fays and magical Alchemy. FOUR “I really liked it” STARS.

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18303388Elouise: A Tale of the Light
by Belinda Crawford

In a time of superstition and fear, Elouise hides a secret that will set her on a path of tragedy and revenge.

Published in August 2013, downloaded for FREE from Smashwords, 2670 words. Goodreads View.

My Thoughts: Elouise is a heartbreakingly dark and gripping short story that I could see being turned into a full length thriller. THREE “I liked it” STARS.

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Jurassic Jane Eyre by Carrie Sessarego

Jane, a lonely orphan, travels back in time and meets a fetching T. rex named Edwina. Love blossoms – but Edwina has secrets she dare not divulge. Will Jane come to learn the pleasures a female dinosaur can offer, or will Edwina’s secrets, size, gender, and species keep them apart?

Published in November 2014, downloaded for FREE from Smashwords, 3800 words. Goodreads View.

My Thoughts: I did enjoy this, but please do not take this story seriously, it’s solely for shits and giggles. Dinosaurs, Jane Eyre and Doctor Who parodies all rolled into one. Preposterous, but fun. THREE “I liked it” STARS.

Stake-Out (Paranormal Detectives Book One) by Lily Luchesi

young ghost hunter in a haunted forest

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Detective Danny Mancini is on a case, following a murder suspect. When he catches him, he finds out that the perp isn’t even human: he’s a 200 year old rogue vampire!

The department doesn’t believe him, and puts him on early retirement, despite his many years of service to the Chicago Police Department, which sends him into a downward spiral.

Two years later, Danny gets an invitation from the beautiful, young and very attractive Detective Angelica Cross to join a secret branch of the FBI to help her track down Vincent, the wayward vamp.

But renegade werewolves, meddling immortal witches and Danny’s strange visions of a life lived a century ago with Angelica make things more difficult than it should be.My Thoughts mk3From the beginning it is easy to care about Danny – A detective doing his job and doing it well, who witnesses’ something unbelievable. And of course no one believes him; he is pushed out of the CPD, labelled as crazy and unfit for work. Danny is barely surviving, living on bottle after bottle of booze when along comes Angelica Cross and the PID (The secret paranormal investigation department of the FBI). A Vamplet, Angelica is the daughter of a human male and a vampire female. Angelica is sexy, strong and determined to catch the bad guys. Though the whole book Danny struggles, he’s had so much thrown at him and never really recovers. I hope that in the next or third book his life can come together for him. At the very end of the epilogue, I felt like there was hope of that, as he’d realised his mistakes.

Even though it was easy to guess Angelica Cross’s big secret early on, I loved that Danny didn’t. There are all sorts’ twists and turns along the way, some expected, some not. The story was fast paced, action packed, entertaining and emotional. I was swept up in Danny and Angelica’s world.

In this the first book, we meet two villains, but only one of them dealt with, leaving what could be an epic show down between Angelica and the powerful and malicious witch Fiona Gullifoyle.

I am really looking forward to the next installment. Bring It On.

My favourite parts:

The flash backs to Danny’s previous life, I loved the whole epilogue (even read it twice).

The vampiric history lesson Angelica gives Danny – Fascinating.

All the little snippets of song lyrics that accompany each chapter break – It is a really lovely, quirky touch. The emotion in the song lyrics matched the chapters perfectly each time.

Aesomenessbio linkdLily Luchesi is a young author/poet born in Chicago, Illinois, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Ever since she was a toddler her mother noticed her tendency for being interested in all things “dark”. At two she became infatuated with vampires and ghosts, and that infatuation turned into a lifestyle by the time she was twelve, and, as her family has always been what they now call “Gothic”, she doesn’t believe she shall ever change. She is also a hopeless romantic and avid music-lover, and will always associate vampires with love, blood and rock and roll. Her interest in poetry came around the same time as when she was given a book of Edgar Allan Poe’s complete work. She then realized that she had been writing her own poetry since she could hold a pen, and just had not known the correct terms. She finished her first manuscript at the age of fourteen, and now, at twenty-one, has two contributing credits in anthologies and the debut novel, Stake-Out.

Twitter – www.twitter.com/LilyLuchesi

Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/LilyLuchesi

Facebook Profile – www.facebook.com/lilyluchesibooks

Instagram – www.instagram.com/lilyluchesi

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7369101.Lily_Luchesi

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Prev post with Lily discussing the writing off Stake-Out http://wp.me/p431Gp-my

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COVER REVEAL **The Last King** by Millicent Nankivell

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Series: Anastasia Avignon #1

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Title: The Last King

Author: Millicent Nankivell

Genre: Fantasy

Cover Design: Jemina Venter at #BookNerdFanGirl

Release Date: Late 2015

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Synopsis mk3

Anastasia Avignon has always known she was a witch.

It’s only now that mysterious shadows have begun chasing her that things have started getting weird. Yes, weird even for a witch.

For the sake of her safety, Anastasia has been taken to the Blackthorne Estate, run by Lady Mirabelle Brackens, a friend of her mother’s who she’s never heard of before. There, she meets Warren Brackens and Dara Robbins.

But there’s something curious about them. They seem to have access to more power than is normal for any witch…and she’s burning to find out why.

When Anastasia begins displaying unnatural powers of her own, it only fuels her desire to find out more. As a long forgotten curse is revealed, Anastasia finds herself in a tangled web of whispers from the past.

Like many other events in history, fear and shame have concealed the truth behind the fate of the last royal family. So why is it that now, centuries after their defeat, Anastasia is seeing their history everywhere? Why has she suddenly become the target of the one who destroyed them all those years ago?

Anastasia is convinced that Warren and Dara have the answers to her questions, but is the price of their knowledge worth paying?

Now she is being hunted, Anastasia must learn to trust in her own abilities and follow her instincts. But is Anastasia on a path predestined for her, or does she have the power to shape her own?

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The-Last-King-Full-SpreadThe-Last-King-Teaser-2Author Bio

Most days, Millicent Nankivell believes she is a unicorn. Please don’t ever shatter her illusion.

As far back as she can remember, she has been creating stories that usually involved magic, mythical beasts, and creatures of her own invention. Not much has changed over the years. Well, except for also becoming a hopeless romantic as she got older.

If Millicent isn’t curled up in a dark corner with her laptop, sketch book, or reading a novel, you’ll probably find her out roaming local parks and gardens with her camera. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, and will argue that it is the best Australian city until she’s blue in the face!

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Blog http://www.millicentnankivell.com/

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/millienankivell

Google+ https://plus.google.com/+MillicentNankivelldotcom/posts

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13766624.Millicent_Nankivell

Newsletter http://eepurl.com/bf5npn

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