Flora Reviews... "Witchy Business (The Witch Detectives #1)" by Eve Paludan and Stuart Sharp

 

Read from October 06 to 10, 2014

Authors  Eve Paludan and  Stuart Sharp
 
...So, what’s this book about?
Elle Chambers is a respected freelance insurance investigator working in Edinburgh, Scotland who goes above and beyond to solve her cases while trying to keep everyone happy. Elle’s life is about to get completely turned upside-down when she accepts a job to find a missing piece of art.
The blurb is a bit misleading though “Elle is a witch – and a damn good one, too” well Elle Chambers is an Enchantress (she can feel people’s emotions and project emotions onto others) and a “weak” one at that because her mother raised to believe that she must control her ability and protect herself completely from the onslaught of other people’s emotions or she’s go insane or die and all her life she’s been told by The Coven (the big organisation that governs all supernatural beings and makes sure that humans are kept in the dark about their existence) that enchanters are not as powerful as a witches.
“Elle must first find a missing bad boy who might or might not be a werewolf” is also misleading as she’s already found the bad-boy werewolf, Ferguson Black, on the first page and he's a beleaguered lawyer who worries about his aging Mum, not very bad boy to me. Lol!
This book is the first of “The Witch Detectives” series. There are 3 books in the series at this time; “Witchy Business” (#1), “Witch and Famous” (#2) and “Witch Way Out” (#3).

...So, what did I like about it?
I really like the premise for this book, an enchantress/witch who investigated insurance claims; a young Miss Marple with added super natural abilities perhaps? Brilliant!
I liked the main character and the fact that we got to experience the tale from her (1st person) perspective. Elle is an innately good person who doesn’t mind bending the rules slightly to ensure fairness. We get hints of all the skills (picking locks, computer hacking, etc) that she’s picked up over the years being an investigator and the good contacts that she’d made.
I thought that the fight scene, near the end of the story was well written and kept me turning the pages, wondering how it would all end.
What I also like is that although this is a beginning of a series, this book doesn’t have a big cliffhanger ending, which is fantastic for me (I hate that).

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?
I don’t think the authors have been writing for long, as I felt the writing style lacked “polish” and at times the turn of phrases used and story progression felt child-like/amateur, however, I do feel that this is something that usually improves over time with experience.

...So, basically what I’m saying is...
This is a nice story. It is a journey of self discovery for the MC. It has romance, mystery, action and drama and it could work as a standalone novel as the ending isn’t a major cliffhanger.

Flora Reviews... "The Stroke of Midnight: A Supernatural New Year's Anthology"

The Stroke of Midnight: A Supernatural New Year’s Anthology

By J.M. Gregoire, Amy Miles, Bella Roccaforte, Beth Dolgner, Brandy Dorsch, Connie Suttle, Danielle Bannister, Lola Rayne, Faith McKay, K.L. Brown, Kyra Dunst, F.F. McCulligan, Susan Illene and Michael Siemsen.

...So what’s this book about?

This book is a collection of fourteen urban fantasy and paranormal short stories/novellas with the common theme of the stories being set around “New Year’s Eve/Day”. I downloaded this Kindle version for free from Amazon UK.

Chapter 1“A stray in the night” by Lola Rayne

I enjoyed this short story. Strong but funny handsome lead character, strong female love interest, fast paced story, bit of mystery, hot lust/romance scenes left me wanting the story to go on...

Chapter 2 "Obsidian Flames" by Amy Miles.

Salem, evil witch, innocent girl sent to the stake - a well written story that had my 21st century values/characteristics forgotten & immersed in Mary Albright's world.

Chapter 3 "Suffering - A Demon Legacy Short Story" by J.M. Gregoire. Cleverly setting up a background story spanning hundreds of years without slowing the pace of this very short story takes a skilled author - I am duly impressed & will hunt out more stories about Vegas & Dez's saga...

Chapter 4 "Eternal Beginnings - A Hunger Mate Novella" by Brandy Dorsch.

I found this a bit of a struggle. The writing style isn't as smooth as the other stories so far (although new authors often have to find their feet as their experience grows) but I felt lost with the story too. I'm assuming that the timeframe of this Novella is well into an established series that has seen major storylines.

Chapter 5 “The Lurkers” by Danielle Bannister

This is a very short ghost story that plunges you right in the middle of the action; a team of U.S. Federal “Retrieval” Agents undercover in a house to remove the rebel ghosts. I found it easy to read and understand the concept behind the plot. Great story with an unexpected twist that left me thinking and coming up with my own “what happened next” scenarios.

Chapter 6 “Ghost of a Girl – A Betty Boo, Ghost Hunter Story by Beth Dolgner

This short ghost story is set at a séance in an old haunted house. The writing style was easy to read and I enjoyed the building tension of waiting for the ghost to appear but I didn't feel engaged with the characters enough to want to find out what happens in their lives next after this story. I am happy & satisfied leaving this as a quick standalone ghost story.

Chapter 7 – “GSW, or How I Met My Mother” by Connie Suttle

Not what I was expecting, in a good way! I completely fell in love with Conner Francis and think Shane Taylor is a great supporting character. I loved the story and would definitely buy a paranormal series if they were the main characters! It made me laugh and I actually shed a tear at the end which I think is impressive for a short story!

Chapter 8 – “More Glitter” by Faith McKay

This is a Teen/YA short story, relationship/life angst is not my choice of reading even in a paranormal setting, however the writing style is good and it was a nice change to read this very short story about magical adolescents

Chapter 9 – “The Smiths” by Michael Siemsen

I really loved this story. The writing style was easy to read and the world building was believable. I felt a connection to the main character, Kyle Smith and enjoyed being plunged feet first into his life. Although this story is in the paranormal genre, the dynamics and complexities of living as part of a huge family are brilliant captured and will resonate with many readers and could have easily taken place in many a family home at Christmas (or Thanksgiving). Lol! I loved the ending, it left me wanting find other stories about Kyle Smith and his usually talented family ;-)

Chapter 10 – “’Til Death Do Us Part” by K.L. Brown

I didn't get involved in this story. It left me feeling "meh". The writing style didn't flow for me, the build-up felt complicated & I couldn't connect to the characters. It’s a shame really because the concept was good. I suppose sometimes as a reader you click with a story and sometimes you don’t.

Chapter 11 – “What Lurks Within” by Bella Roccaforte

Absolutely brilliant!! I loved this story with a passion. Very easy to read writing style, believable characters with depth & great plot twists! The creative world building had me right there in Mortimer & Heidi’s life, they quickly became characters that I cared about. This story made me laugh and cry. Perfect!

Chapter 12 – “Fifteen Minutes until Midnight – An Annwn Unveiled Short Story” by Kyra Dunst

Although, this tale is obviously a short story centred on a supporting character from within a well established series, the character building and “Annwn Unveiled” background story was interweaved beautifully within this story. I found the writing style easy to read and quickly found myself engaging with Teagan’s tale. I loved her rather unique quandary; I haven’t read about a newly turned vampire who was vegan in human life before! What a conundrum!    

Chapter 13 – “Maltese Cross My Heart” by F.F. McCulligan

I feel that this short tale is more sci-fi or urban fantasy than paranormal but I enjoyed reading it. I did find the story a bit confusing at the beginning; who was this main character, what was he - is he a schizophrenic, is the story set in a future time or a different planet? But once I stopped trying to work it out and let it wash over me, I felt captivated by Glen’s journey of self discovery; it became one of those stories that gets you thinking... wow – what if? I love it when I’m still thinking about a short story days after reading it, don’t you?!

Chapter 14 – “Tempting the Moon” by Susan Illene

I loved this short story; the writing style was easy to read, the pace was good, I engaged with the main character, Mel, and I loved the complexities of her relationships with the supporting. I have since found out that this tale is from a series called “The Sensor”, I haven’t read any of the 6 books in the series and can say that you don’t need to to enjoy this story; it works well as a stand-alone story, the character building is great and we’re given all the background story we need to be able to follow what’s happening. I loved this short story so much that I think I’ve found myself a new paranormal series to read!  

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

I have enjoyed having this book as an ongoing back-up, to be able to pick up and read when I’ve had a bit of free time. I’ve enjoyed reading 11 out of the 14 tales; I think it’s got a nice collection of different paranormal creatures, settings and sub-genres under the paranormal umbrella to suit most tastes.

~ Happy Reading ~

Flora Reviews.... "Winter's Kiss (Vampires Realm #5) by Felicity Heaton

Flora Reviews .....

"Winter's Kiss (Vampires Realm Book 5) 

Read from 6th to 9th August, 2014 See this review on Goodreads here

...So what’s this book about?

Winter’s Kiss is book 5 in the Vampires Realm series.  I don’t think that it’s necessary to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy this one as the two main characters, Winter and Nika haven’t featured before previously and there is no cliffhanger ending in this one! Of course that being said the realm’s prominent characters, hierarchy, laws, histories and ongoing sagas will shed an extra dimension of light to Winter and Nika’s social dilemma.

Winter is a loyal Watchman of the Validus bloodline who has secretly watched and fallen in love with a local village girl. Nika is a young girl who dreams of a life and future with the silent, statue-like guard whom she’s fallen in love with. Then one night Nika is chased and attacked by wolves in the forest, Winter abandons his duty and rides from the mansion to her rescue which is when she discovers that her knight is anything but saintly and the world is not what she has been lead to believe.

Winter is a vampire and Nika is becoming a werewolf, love between their species is forbidden by law — the penalty is death! Can love really conquer all?

 ...So, what did I like about it?

I find Felicity Heaton’s books very easy to read, her writing style and level of description transport me right into her stories. The pace, the tension, the action and of course, the passion are all well balanced and fantastically written.

I usually find it very challenging to feel engaged to characters who are teenagers or young adults but although Nika is only 20 years old, her naivety, impatience and foolhardiness did not grate on my nerves in this story. I still liked her by the end of the book and hope she appears in the series again.

I found myself gripped, turning the pages, wondering how on earth Winter and Nika’s relationship could survive, after all Ms Heaton doesn't always give us, the Reader, the happily ever after ending that we expect or hope for…  ;-)

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

Actually? Not a single thing!

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

I loved “Winter’s Kiss”! It’s everything I look for in an adult paranormal romance story. If you love forbidden romances - think Romeo & Juliet, than this is a book for you. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a slushy soft read, the sex and violent fight scenes are well written but graphic – old school Mills & Bloom this is not! It’s beautifully crafted, gripping and passionate making “Winter’s Kiss” a 5 Star read from me.