#FridayReads If you like #YA I can recommend these books…#amreading

#FridayReads If you like YA then I can recommend this mixed set of books.

22919146Aranka is a moderately normal teenager until those who hold true power in today’s world decide she’s a threat.

The accepted image of the modern world is an illusion. A clandestine force usurps the desires and emotions of individuals, and those who won’t conform must be crushed to preserve the appearance of free will. Aranka and a few others stand in the way, not because they are rebels, just because of the fluke in their genes. Those with power will stop at nothing to protect their supremacy. Aranka is kidnapped and forced to watch as her fellow prisoners are killed one by one.

A small band of outlaws from every corner of the globe fight to free the captives and preserve their own freedom. Kenyen, a young doctor, ventures into the heart of oppression but he can’t stop the terror. He just wants to save one life. In the process he uncovers “the Seed,” the first flicker of hope in a thousand years. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

33956A wonderful and terrifying series by a new writer about a young boy training to be an exorcist. Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have falled before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Rose comes from the capital of the Confederation of Cities where its citizens live in luxury and the greatest fashion statement of all is being Altered. People change everything about the way they look as often as they do their hairstyle but Rose is different. Her position of privilege has made her an outcast and led her to suspect that something sinister is happening to the citizens and flees the capital along with a past that imprisons her in search of a fresh start in the Land of the Unaltered.

Flynn lives in the Land of the Unaltered and hates the capital and everything it stands for. So when a spoiled capital girl is assigned to work with him, he wants nothing to do with her and is prepared to make her life miserable. But Flynn was not prepared for someone like Rose. She doesn’t fit the mold he expected and finds himself strongly attracted to her. As she continues to surprise and outwit him, they begin to forge a bond that is tested when they discover a secret that could change everything they know about Land of the Unaltered.

Land of the Unaltered is a Dystopian Romance and is the first installment of the The Confederation Chronicles.   Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

24457914High school junior Eris Miller thinks she’s having a bad day when her roommate’s boyfriend catches her stepping out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel. Then she gets abducted by scaly six-armed aliens with a strange fondness for the color blue, and her day suddenly gets a whole lot worse.

Trapped on a spaceship bound for the slave markets of Sirius B, Eris fears she’ll never see her home again. But then fate whisks her away from her reptilian captors and into the arms of Varrin, a fast-talking space pirate who promises to deliver her safely back to Earth. He claims to have her best interests at heart, but Eris soon discovers that her charming rescuer has a hidden agenda.

As they race across the galaxy, outrunning a villainous figure from Varrin’s past, Eris begins to realize that their relationship is putting her planet, her life and her heart in imminent danger. She knows that trusting Varrin could prove deadly … but what other choice does she have? Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

18296529Cherry blossom lipstick: check
Smokey eyes: check
Skinny jeans: check
Dead kid in the mirror: check

For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She’s been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too.

Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. That is until she see’s the ghost of her foster sister… Sally.

Everyone thinks Sally’s just another runaway, but Mattie knows the truth—she’s dead. Murdered. Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can’t do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young policeman, Officer Dan, and together they set out to discover the real truth behind Sally’s disappearance.

Only to find out she’s dealing with a much bigger problem, a serial killer, and she may be the next victim…

Will Mattie be able to find out the truth before the killer finds her? Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

22895433Evil is slouching into Providence, crawling into the rotting core of the Elders’ regime, and only a pariah girl seems to care.

Even in Providence, city of eternal night, there are rebels. Deborah refuses an arranged marriage and runs. But more is at stake than her unhappy future. Her destiny is to become the catalyst that brings down the whole corrupt edifice and its creator—Abaddon, dark angel of the bottomless pit.
Deborah runs to find her mother, the legendary Green Woman, who is drawing a host of dreams and heroes from the Memory of the world to defeat the evil that thrives in Providence. But the Green Woman’s strength is failing—she needs her daughter to take up the burden.
In the apocalyptic wasteland outside the city, Jonah, another runaway, is waiting—to give Deborah his help, then his heart. Together they brave the terrors of the desert. Together they believe they can change the world.
A girl, a boy, and a pack of wolf-dog pups search for the Green Woman, but Abaddon has set horrors on their trail that not even courage and boundless love can defeat.

The Dark Citadel is the first volume of The Green Woman series, an epic story of evil, heroism, bravery, treachery, hatred, and the invincible power of love. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

18046743Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.

Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.

Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life. Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

 

Book reviews in November FleetLife @FleetLife #Bookreviews

November has some of my book reviews featured in Fleet Life

For the online edition go to http://www.fleetlife.org.uk, load the online directory and find my reviews on page 36.

Nov FL

This month the following books are featured

When the Crows Fly Low by V.J Patterson

Runes by Ednah Walters

Fetch Nurse Connie by Jean Fullerton

A Boy Named Rabbit by Marcia Meara

and The Dead Detective by J.R Rain

Runes by @ednahwalters #YA #Paranormal #Bookreview

Runes (Runes, #1)Runes by Ednah Walters
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Runes is book 1 in a YA paranormal series which revolves around Norse Mythology. I chose to read this book from the #FridayFiveChallenge and have really enjoyed the mythology storyline.

Lorraine Cooper, or Raine to her friends is sweet sixteen and never been kissed. Eirik Seville has been her unofficial boyfriend forever, but they’ve never taken the next step. All this changes when Raine turns seventeen. Drop-dead gorgeous Torin St James is Raine’s new neighbour who knows far too much about Raine and seems to have magical powers of speed and healing.

At school three new exchange students from Norway arrive, they have strange tattoos and Raine is targeted by them. Soon Raine is seeing runes around her, on her car, at school and they glow on Torin when his emotions are raised.

Torin’s presence pushes Eirik’s feelings for Raine into the open and they share their first kiss, but it’s not Eirik whom Raine thinks about first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Intrigued by Torin, Raine seeks answers, but he is bound by a higher authority and cannot reveal the truth.

This was a great way to introduce readers to a new series, with new twists on a popular theme in this genre. I look forward to reading book 2.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Rosie’s Coffee Break – when a book makes you think more…about Norse Mythology #MondayBlogs

How often do you read a book and it makes you think more about one of the book subjects or storylines and it has your brain cells all fired up with questions and curiosity? This EXTRA thinking will be the subject of my … Continue reading

Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge Runes by @ednahwalters #YA #Fantasy

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

Mug 1

Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes.

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions from small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

My Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)

This week I was inspired by the urge to read a book with Norse mythology.

I spent nearly all my 5 minutes going back a forth, exciting books covers led to book descriptions I didn’t like, or few reviews or high prices. I was being picky. In my last few seconds I chose this….

18046743

Find a copy here on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book description

Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.

Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.

Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about him. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only is she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life.

Number of reviews; 58 on Amazon.co.uk and 561 on Amazon.com

Number of pages 245

Price; FREE on kindle

Would I BUY or PASS?……BUY.

Analysis

In the end rather than find a satisfactory book about true Norse Mythology, I have a YA fantasy around the Norse Mythology. The book cover is enchanting, a mystical girl with wispy light catching swirls on her skin, the book title has a blue/white mystical/spiritual feel. From the book description you know it’s going to be YA fantasy and it looks like it will follow a well trodden path of successful YA storyline. This is book 1 of a series and like many YA series, book one is FREE to grab the young enthusiastic audience who are hungry for this escapism. ( I like to too and I’m no longer in the YA age range!)

58 reviews is impressive in this popular book market, 50 of them on Amazon .co.uk are 4 or 5* and on Amazon.com 561 is VERY impressive 89% are 4 or 5*. To top it all this book is FREE on kindle, so that is a big dose of persuasion to BUY this book. I’m sure the price gets many others to buy too, as long as they find the time to read and review, rather than letting the book sit and fester on their kindle.

Out of curiosity I checked out the other books in the series. Top end prices for my kindle purchasing, but doesn’t look to stop shoppers on the  Amazon.com market place.

Book 2

Amazon UK 35 reviews Price £2.47, Amazon US 303 price $3.89, no. pages 343

Book 3

Amazon UK 23 reviews Price £2.49 Amazon US 236, Prices $3.89 no. pages 286

Book 4

Amazon.UK 22 reviews Price £2.49 Amazon US 207, Price $3.89 no. pages 315

Book 5

Amazon UK 16 Amazon Price £2.49 Amazon US 143, Price $3.89 no. pages 249

Book 6

Amazon UK 17 reviews Price £2.49  Amazon US 119 Price $3.89 no. pages 362

I must add, in my search I found a box set of 14 full length fantasy novels about all sorts of mythology for FREE, but I really didn’t think I would ever read that many, plus I was put off by one review which said that many were book 1’s of a series and they left you on cliff hangers, so that was a PASS. I think a Wednesday Wing post discussion on the money, effort and marketing needed to pull off a great series is needed soon.

Links to other #FridayFiveChallengers

Cathy looked for a Summer read – https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/friday-five-challenge-4/

Terry Chose a Norwegian set book – http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/would-you-buy-or-pass-9.html

Shelley chose Chic-lit with an Italian theme – http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/07/24/buy-or-pass-will-chicklit-provide-a-fridayfivechallenge-winner/

Alison is looking for some sunshine in the rain –  https://alisonwilliamswriting.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/friday-five-challenge-sunshine-state-by-rosemary-whittaker-fridayfivechallenge-rosieamber1/

Luccia chose a book in the “Customer Favourites” section – http://lucciagray.com/2015/07/24/buy-or-pass-fridayfivechallenge-the-invention-of-wings/

The Soul and The Seed by Arie Farnam

The Soul and the Seed (The Kyrennei #1)The Soul and the Seed by Arie Farnam (Book 1 of the Kyrennei series)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Soul and The Seed is an extremely powerful book. A Fantasy thriller that is very realistic. Sixteen year old Aranka lives in a trailer with her Dad and older brother, she has few friends and is unpopular at school. Very quickly the action starts when medical staff insist on a preventative health screen involving a blood test from all the students. There is a suspected super virus going around and from the results kids are quickly taken to hospital.

Fear and horror follow with the kids cut off from their families, they are given drugs to fight the illness. The treatment they get made me want to turn away in disgust, but I also needed to read on and find out what happened.

I don’t want to give away any more of this compelling plot, but there are myths and ancient runes mixing the past with a heart-breaking discovery of hope in the present, and an echo of many communities around the world who keep their own traditions but suffer from others who are hungry for power.

No! I wanted to shout when the book finished but the story had not. Can’t wait for book 2 in the series.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Arie will be joining us on the blog tomorrow as our guest author with news of her next book.