Book Review: In Too Deep Kathryn Shay

Synopsis: IN TOO DEEP is the first novella in Shay’s powerful, new anthology, AMERICA’S BRAVEST. (All six novellas are available in a boxed set.)For months, Captain Gabe Malvaso and Firefighter Rachel Wellington have kept their knife-sharp attraction to themselves and out of their firehouse. But when a building explodes around them and they’re trapped in the basement, will they still avoid temptation?

The Nerd's Ramble: Initially I was all over this. I love firemen to begin with, and the fact that it involves a captain and a female firefighter getting all tangled up together? I was so into this. Unfortunately, I was let down. I know the synopsis says that it's the first in the series, but it doesn't feel that way. Characters float in and out of scenes, and we're expected to care for them for no reason at all. There are relationships mentioned, but that's it. I think if you're going to do something like that, there needs to be more explanation. Getting to Gabe and Rachel? Their chemistry almost seems forced, and the author does something that's one of my own personal pet peeves.  The characters can barely function without thinking about each other--and to me in this setting is a no go. I'd skip this, to be honestly frank.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Total Length: not given.
Available format: smashwords, kindle
Publication Date: November 2011 (Smashwords)
Author's Link: Kathryn Shay on Goodreads

Book Review: Bitter Blackout by N.A. Foy, Lynn Todd, Dori Klaproth, Shelly Schulz

Synopsis:  Mirrors of darkness. Love found in the arms of an enemy. Magic users who defy death. The silent corridors of a temple. A young woman runs the gauntlet and fights against her own kind for survival. All of these can be found within the realm of Bitter Blackout.

The Nerd's Ramble: Since this is an anthology, my review format is going to change just a little bit.
There are three poems by N.A. Foy. The first being Embrace the Shadow which is my favorite out of the three. The second poem in the anthology is The Temple and his third poem closes out the work with Grasping the Remains of a Dream. I'm not someone who reads a lot of poetry, but I really enjoyed the three that were featured.

The first short story is by Lynn Todd titled Tiamae. This piece is a detail rich story about a light elf, Zamatia, and a dark elf, Kerethsar, who against all odds fall in love and have a child named Tiamae. The relationship between Zamatia and Kerethsar has tons of Hades and Persephone to me, and I think it's an interesting take on a story that's as old as the spoken word.

The second short story is by Dori Klaproth titled Timeless Witch (Sioria Caelleich). This story is interesting complex, weaving magic and story telling to create a short that leaves me wanting more, and wanting to find out what happens next. It was a nifty little short, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The last short is the one that I wrote called The Harrowing. The main character named Alice is accused by the pack of being involved in her twin brother's, the former leader of the werewolf pack, death. Her sentence is to run in the Harrowing, a hunting tradition where the pack hunts the condemned. She has to fight to clear her name, and to stay with her new mate who is also hiding a secret.

Rating: ★★★★★
Total Length: 70 pages
Available Format: Print and Kindle.
Publication Date: March 19, 2013 (Darq Deviant Press)
Author's Links:
N.A. Foy webpage

Book Review The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch

Synopsis: A mesmerizing thriller -- told in reverse "The 13th Hour" is the story of a man given the chance to go back in time in one-hour increments to prevent a vicious crime from destroying his life.Nick Quinn is being held in jail, accused of the murder of his beloved wife, Julia. He knows she's dead; he saw her bloody corpse, shot in the head at point-blank range. The police tell him they found the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it in the trunk of his car. Nick is confused, grief-stricken -- "and completely innocent."

At 9 p.m. on July 28, a gray-haired gentleman visits Nick in the police interrogation room and asks him a simple question: ""If you could get out of here, if you could save her, would you?"" He hands Nick a golden talisman that allows Nick to go back in time, one hour at a time, for a total of twelve hours. With each hour that Nick travels back, he finds more clues to the identity of Julia's real killer, but he also discovers that his actions in the past may have unexpected repercussions in the future.

In his race against time to save the woman he loves most in the world, Nick will find that friends become enemies, old loyalties are tested, and Julia's murder is part of a larger scheme that has its roots in greed and vengeance. Nick has the ability to save Julia, the chance to put his own world in balance, but he is venturing down a precarious route. If he hasn't set things right by the thirteenth hour, his desperate attempts to save Julia's life may lead to a far greater catastrophe than he could have ever imagined.
The Nerd's ramble:  This book was amazing. From the first page to the last I couldn't leave it alone. I read this in one sitting, all afternoon curled up in a cozy chair as a nasty spring storm raged outside. The 13th Hour is a science-fiction thriller, due to the element of time travel; that manages to keep things tense, interesting and smart, revealing little clues hour by hour as to the motives behind Julia's death and the plane crash.

The story is told in reverse and in fact the author leaves a note saying that the book starts with chapter thirteen. Nick is an interesting and compelling character, risking everything to protect the woman he loves. Julia is very much a secondary character, in the worst way, but the other supporting cast really help with the mood and desperation of this book.

I liked the overall idea of this book, and the characters. The pacing was nice, the development of plot as the story progressed (regressed?) was something really well thought out. As time ran out the narrative moved faster, events were sped up, contributing nicely to the overall mood of the book. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Rating: ★★★★★
Total Length:  389 pages
Format: Traditional, Kindle, Epub
Publication Date: December 29, 2009 (Aria Books)
Author's Page: Richard Doetsch

Book Review-- In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) Tana French

Synopsis: As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

The Nerd's Ramble: This book is extremely slow starting, and once it gets going, it finishes almost too fast. I read this as the selected book for a book club I'm part of on Goodreads. The characters are interesting and diverse and all around human. They make mistakes they do things wrong, they make corrections and sometimes things aren't as cut and dry as we want them to be.

Rob and Cassie's relationship is something interesting, and I like that it's again very human. There's attraction, and affection but like all relationships nothing's perfect. Their relationship and partnership evolves and changes, sometimes for the better, and for the worst.

The mystery in this book is also compelling and complex. A few details are predictable, but the ending really made me stop and think about a few of the clues that Ms. French dropped in the narrative. The setting for this book is gorgeous, and the research painstakingly well done.

This is the first in a series, and I'm still undecided if I want to pick up the other books. I really liked this story and the characters, but I don't feel the same pull and connection as I do with other series like this.

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Total Length: 429 pages
Format: Epub, Kindle, traditional
Publication Date: May 17, 2007 (Viking Adult)