Tag Archives: 4 stars
Short Story Anthology – Worlds of Wonder by Emily Martha Sorensen @CleanYAFantasy
I have recently found author Emily Martha Sorensen and am loving her writing, so when I was offered a chance to read this short story anthology, I couldn’t resist.
MY REVIEW
These sixteen short stories will have you traveling, flying high, using magic, and having action and adventure in bite sized pieces. We have some science fiction, some fantasy and some life lessons, with choices to be made.
Many of them are fairy tale remakes with morals to the stories that may leave you thinking…
A few of my favorites:
Beauty and the Brave: A fun twist on the Ugly Duckling. The young female dragon becomes the hero.
The Dragon and the Santa: What would you think if you heard a clatter on the roof top at Christmas, only to see Santa claus and a dragon? The ending…oh so good, you bad bad dragon.
Invoice: Ya gotta read that yourself. It is a HA HA HA morbid moment.
4 STARS
GOODREADS BLURB
A bunch of science fiction and fantasy short stories aimed at young adult and middle grade readers. There are fairy tale retellings, time-traveling, giant babies, dragons, and even a short story set in the middle of Black Magic Academy.
Contains the following short stories:
“Rite of Passage”
“A Phone Conversation”
“The Spinning Talent”
“Unicess”
“Cindy’s Fairy Godmother”
“Monster Under the Bed”
“Time Switch”
“The Apple of Discord”
“Advanced Precognition”
“Beauty and Brave”
“The Dragon and the Santa”
“Invoice”
“Interplanetary Edition”
“Schedule TMTR”
“On the Way Through the Woods”
“When the Wilkinsons Grew”
The anthology is about 26,500 words
ABOUT EMILY MARTHA SORENSEN
Emily is a prolific writer with many titles to choose from. She writes of fairies, dragons, fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, world peach in short stories and flash fiction.
You can find her on Goodreads & Amazon
- You can see my Giveaways HERE.
- You can see my Reviews HERE.
- If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.- Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
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MY REVIEWS FOR EMILY MARTHA SORENSEN
Death Can Set You Free – Review for Sick to Death by Greg Levin @greg_levin @pumpupyourbook
Inside the Book:
Title: Sick to Death
Author: Greg Levin
Author: Greg Levin
Release Date: September 3, 2016
Publisher: White Rock Press
Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Dark Humor
Format: Ebook/Paperback
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MY REVIEW
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Death Can Set You Free
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The concept for Sick To Death by Greg Levin hooked me and the opening pages drew me in, keeping me on the edge of my seat until the last page was read. Death. Disease. Vigilantism. Terrorism. Retribution. Murder.
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Over the previous six month, there was only one thing Gage has become more efficient at than killing…and that was dying.
In the lottery of life, Gage Adder has won a dead cat, an ex – wife and a cancerous pancreas! After finding out he has cancer and was given a death sentence, Gage comes out swinging.
According to my brother, I only became funny once I started dying.
A year to live.
What would you do with the time left? Probably not what Gage does! I knew what he was going to do, but not the way he would go about it and I love it. Sometimes the only way to see justice done is to do it yourself.
Cancer has a way of ruining a perfectly good murder.
Diarrhea’s what happens when you’re busy making deadly plans.
A humorous accounting of one man’s decision to take matters into his own hands. And the outcome is very surprising.
I never anticipated the creativity and originality Greg Levin displays creating these wonderful characters that jump off the page and into my heart with their willingness to step up, sacrificing their last days on earth to leave it better than they found it. They were drawn together by their disease and death and had a camaraderie many could never understand. Death kept them living.
The moral issues are addressed in a way some could find agreeable, others would condemn them no matter the why. What would it take to make you kill? What about the social and moral repercussions?
I laughed at ‘Tumor Terrorism’, ‘Metastaside’, ‘The Stage Four Slaughters’. Why not go out with a sense of humor and a few laughs.
I empathized with the gang. I have always loved vigilantes, loved the Charles Bronson movies, but, after reading Sick To Death I find why vigilantism is so bad, even when it’s good. Where do you draw the line?
I received a free copy of Sick To Death from Greg Levin.
4 Stars
ABOUT THE BOOK
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KNOWING YOU’RE DYING CAN BE MURDER.
When Gage Adder finds out he has inoperable pancreatic cancer, things really start to look up for him. He leaves his soul-crushing job, joins a nice terminal illness support group, and takes up an exciting new hobby: Beating the hell out of bad guys.
Gage’s support group friends Jenna and Ellison don’t approve of his vigilante activities. Jenna says fighting never solves anything. Poison, on the other hand… When the three decide to team up and hit the streets, suddenly no rapist, pedophile or other odious criminal in the city is safe.
They are the sickest of superheroes. Their superpower is nothing left to lose. But what happens when one of them takes this power too far and puts at risk the lives of hundreds of innocent people? Where does one draw the line when dying to kill?
Meet the Author:
Greg Levin is an award-winning author of dark comedic fiction.
Greg’s first novel… meh, nobody but Greg really cares about his first novel.
His second novel, The Exit Man, was optioned by HBO for development into a TV series and won a 2015 Independent Publishers Award (a.k.a., an “IPPY”), earning a silver medal for Best Adult Fiction Ebook.
Greg’s third novel, Sick to Death, is out now and is being hailed by critics everywhere as one of the top three books he has ever written. Author Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist’s Handbook)calls Sick to Death “a tour de force dark comedy.”
Greg resides with his wife, daughter and two cats in Austin, Texas, where he reportedly is wanted by local authorities for refusing to say “y’all” or do the two-step. He is currently working on his fourth novel.
Visit him at http://www.greglevin.com
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Tour Schedule
Monday, September 26 – Book featured at The Dark Phantom
Tuesday, September 27 – Book featured at Books, Dreams, Life
Wednesday, September 28 – Guest blogging at What Is That Book About
Thursday, September 29 – Book featured at CBY Book Club
Friday, September 30 – Book featured at The Bookworm Lodge
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Monday, October 3 – Book featured at My Bookish Pleasures
Wednesday, October 5 – Book featured at Write and Take Flight
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Monday, October 10 – Book reviewed at My Book Addiction and More
Wednesday, October 12 – Book featured at Book Cover Junkie
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Monday, October 17 – Interviewed at I’m Shelf-ish
Wednesday, October 19 – Book featured at Confessions of an Eccentric Bookaholic
Thursday, October 20 – Interviewed at Literarily Speaking
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Monday, October 24 – Book featured at Mello and June
Wednesday, October 26 – Book featured at Bound 2 Escape
Thursday, October 27 – Book reviewed at Natural Bri
Friday, October 28 – Book reviewed at Fundinmental
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Monday, October 31 – Book reviewed at Falling Over Book Reviews
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- You may see my Giveaways HERE.
- You can see my Reviews HERE.
- If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
- Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
- Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
- Problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.
- Thanks for visiting fundinmental!
Review: Personal by Lee Child
Lee Child, a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, is back with another Jack Reacher novel, Personal.
I have read numerous novels by Lee and he is on my list of ‘grab their books’ authors.
PERSONAL by Lee Child
A Jack Reacher Novel
- File Size: 1296 KB
- Print Length: 369 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0804178747
- Publisher: Delacorte Press (September 2, 2014)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- ASIN: B00HBQWGXK
- Book Design by Virginia Norey
MY REVIEW
I love political intrigue and the machinations of the government at work. Personal by Lee Child is a book that kept its secret from beginning to end. I do love when I cannot figure out the ending of a book. I have read numerous books by Lee Child and I will be looking for the next one.
He saw his name in the paper – Jack Reacher call Rick Shoemaker.
Jack was a retired military cop and they were reaching out to him.
Someone had taken a potshot at the president of France from 1400 feet, 3/4 of a mile away. How many snipers could there be, that are capable of making a shot like that? It didn’t take long for Jack to figure out this was Personal.
Jack Reacher had disappeared after quitting the service. He had no home, just went where the wind blew him. He is Sherlock Homeless. He is a no nonsense kinda guy. Why did they chose him? He had no resources, no contacts. When something smells, he can run through the options and eliminate the unlikely suspects. But, Jack Reacher plays by no rules but his own. He did not feel bad about his kills and felt food was wasted on some of the people he had run across. I would hate to get in a staring contest with Jack. He could stare all day without blinking.
Jack believes there are four necessities – smart people, work hard, pay attention and think laterally. He is quick and intuitive, a bad ass and shows no mercy. Jack is observant and a fast thinker. Will he be fast enough?
John Kott was suspected of killing his parents when he was 17 years old. He was recruited by the army anyway. He became a Special Forces sniper, but he had a screw loose. A dead Ranger, a guilty John Kott and Jack Reacher would be the one to put him away for 15 years. Now he is out…
Casey Nice is a rookie analyst for the CIA, working under the State Department. She feels the weight of the world on her shoulders and is determined to guard Jack’s back. She has never worked a mission. We think we know how we would respond in certain situations, but until you walk in those shoes, you can’t really know.
The characters are too numerous to list. I loved some and hated some, was terrified of some and pissed off at some. I do like that Lee Child does not let the bad guys off the hook and their actions will have severe repercussions.
Details in thrillers are very important. Careful use of them can keep the pacing, action and suspense, at a high level, making me wonder what will happen next as I quickly turn the pages. My only complaint – too much detail. The beginning hooked me. Then, I got lost in the details. The last third of the book kept my attention from wandering and I loved the ending.
Snipers, political intrigue, spies, conspiracies, corruption, the mystery abounds as I weave my way around the pitfalls of Jack’s mission, a mission that has twists and turns that kept me in the dark.
Lee Child’s ability to weave a story that does not give away the ending is phenomenal.
I received this ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest and unbiased review.
4 Stars
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SYNOPSIS
Jack Reacher walks alone. Once a go-to hard man in the US military police, now he’s a drifter of no fixed abode. But the army tracks him down. Because someone has taken a long-range shot at the French president. Only one man could have done it. And Reacher is the one man who can find him. This new heartstopping, nailbiting book in Lee Child’s number-one bestselling series takes Reacher across the Atlantic to Paris – and then to London. The stakes have never been higher – because this time, it’s personal.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lee Child was born October 29th, 1954 in Coventry, England, but spent his formative years in the nearby city of Birmingham. By coincidence he won a scholarship to the same high school that JRR Tolkien had attended. He went to law school in Sheffield, England, and after part-time work in the theater he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an eighteen-year career as a presentation director during British TV’s “golden age.” During his tenure his company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, and Cracker. But he was fired in 1995 at the age of 40 as a result of corporate restructuring. Always a voracious reader, he decided to see an opportunity where others might have seen a crisis and bought six dollars’ worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a book, Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher series.
Killing Floor was an immediate success and launched the series which has grown in sales and impact with every new installment. The first Jack Reacher movie, based on the novel One Shot and starring Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike, was released in December 2012.
Lee has three homes—an apartment in Manhattan, a country house in the south of France, and whatever airplane cabin he happens to be in while traveling between the two. In the US he drives a supercharged Jaguar, which was built in Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant, thirty yards from the hospital in which he was born.
Lee spends his spare time reading, listening to music, and watching the Yankees, Aston Villa, or Marseilles soccer. He is married with a grown-up daughter. He is tall and slim, despite an appalling diet and a refusal to exercise.
Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook / Jack Reacher Facebook / G+ / You Tube
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