Hunger Moon by Melissa Snark

Title: Hunger Moon
Author: Melissa Snark
Series: Loki's Werewolves - Book 2
Type of read: eARC

Stars:

You can find the book on Amazon US, Amazon UK and B&N
You can find more about Melissa on her website and blog



Victoria Storm faces seemingly insurmountable odds to keep her dwindling pack of werewolves alive and together. She fights hunters- including the brother and father of her deceased lover-and the pack takes another devastating loss. When they seek sanctuary in a small town near Lake Tahoe, high in the secluded Sierra Nevada Mountains, Victoria discovers they are infringing on the territory of a vastly more powerful Alpha wolf. To save her pack, she uses her feminine wiles to seduce the Alpha. Nothing comes easily for Victoria. Her plans are complicated by the Alpha's erratic son, a ghostly wife, and a vengeful witch. Not even her status as a Valkyrie or the favor of the Goddess Freya can change the course of destiny for Victoria or her packmates

This is the second book in the Loki's werewolves series, you can find my review for the first one at http://lauraoflurkng.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-child-thief-by-melissa-snark.html

I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

This is the second book in the Loki's Werewolves series, and while the first one was good I felt this was a big step up in writing quality. The connections between the characters and their species, as well as the wolf hierarchy really showed in this novel, making fascinating reading as character chose to submit or not depending on rank. And not all the dangerous ones are supernatural, there's danger at every turn.

The character's were well crafted: Victoria, the Valkyrie werewolf who give a lovely insight into both the living and those who died both in this book and the last, Arik, the hot suitor with more secrets than he has sleeves for, a grumpy librarian, breaking the tension of the story for a little bit, and the fact that you have amputee werewolves that just get on with life.

The book has a lovely action feel, starting off with a vicious fight and carrying problems, whether they be ones of growling animals or stomachs all the way through. Problems of the heart, war with problems of survival as Victoria, the almost accidental Alpha of the pack, has to find a mate to keep her pack alive. That just leads to more trouble, cover up, trouble, fighting, and did I mention trouble?

This book sent me from laughter to being choked up, to tension, everything I like in a good novel. I am looking forward to the next in the series, especially having read the excerpt in the back of the novel. I think this is a series to keep your eye on.

I would give this book 4.5 stars but increase it to 5 stars for the sake of rating sites

Sex, Spooks and Sauvignon by Tracy Whitwell

Title: Sex, Spooks and Sauvignon
Author: Tracy Whitwell
Series: Sex, spooks...
Type of read: Indie author
Stars:

You can buy the book via Amazon UK and in paperback on her website
You can find Tracy on twitter and her website

 
Meet Tanz, a thirty-something, northern, lusty, cash-strapped, failing actress with a penchant for cocktails. When, with her bank balance dwindling fast, she decides to work in a local New-Age shop in north London and starts hearing voices, a journey begins that brings spooks, laughter, a cast of millions (well, tens... ) mortal danger and some very pleasant shenanigans with a young Irish barman called Pat. Join the mad ride that is Tanz's life, today. And bring a bottle.

Despite this being an ARC review site, I wasn't asked to review this novel. After having read it however I contacted the author, who I can tell is just as much of a character as the ones she writes and notified her I'd be reviewing regardless of her opinion… but did she have an opinion and would she like to share? Thankfully either the bad guy isn't based on anyone she's close to or she took to me as I seem to still be alive, and even got the cool title of "sexy book-mafia"! Woohoo go me!

I wanted to share this though as I think it deserves to be shown off.

I found this novel on a free special offer on Amazon UK at the start of the year but it has sat neglected on my kindle since. I wanted to read something a bit different and I am so glad I picked this book up.

The book is light, funny and doesn't take itself too seriously which I found a refreshing change. The plot floated along, slow enough that there were times to just hang out with random cool characters from the point of view's, Tanz's, life, but still felt scripted enough that I knew where I was going, and hung on for the ride. I particularly liked the character of Milo, the funny best friend who, while not really having much to add to the plot except a sense of fun and life from before the events of the book, would have left a devastating hole if he were to be removed. I hope to see him take a larger role in future books.

A large part of the plot centred around work, whether as an actress, a till assistant in a spiritual shop, or a slight unbelieving and very bemused medium blurting out messages from beyond the grave! At the beginning of the novel Tanz has no idea on the mediumship front, merely taking a till job in a shop until her next acting break comes along. I feel the disbelief in this was essential to me having such an easy time believing the events later on in the book as the spooks get serious. I had time to go from non-existent to creepy-coincidence, to get-in-there-and-kick-ass-girl!

The side plots in between work of drinking, sex and sex while drinking were great fun. I imaging the author had fun "researching" the drinking side, possibly the sex as well.

Having since spoken with the author and found out several of the characters are based on her life I love this book even more. A diamond in the rough, I hope we get more soon.

The Child Thief by Melissa Snark

Title: The Child Thief
Author: Melissa Snark
Series: Loki's Werewolves - Book 1
Type of read: eARC
Stars: 

You can find the book on Amazon US, Amazon UK and B&N
You can find more about Melissa on her website and blog

Valkyrie Victoria Storm has werewolf hunters hell bent on revenge trying to kill her. She can barely keep her own downtrodden pack alive, let alone respond to the pleas of a murdered mother.  Can she set aside her differences and work with her sworn enemy to save a little boy from a Christmas nightmare?

I received a free copy of this short story in return for an unbiased review.

This book has a great hook from the first page, a bit creepy with a smatter of world building in the mix. I did feel in the next few that various mythology and supernatural terms were thrown at me a bit fast while I was still trying to get my feet with the relationship between the characters. This smoothes out as the book progresses however and I got a comfortable feel for the supernatural involved.

I felt the protagonist was relatable, despite reeling from recent loss and the emotions that come with it she keeps away from emo and looks after her pack as well as herself. It was refreshing to see a character that didn't hit one extreme or the other but was able to move between them. I also liked her reactions to different ages within the pack, both having to act as a mum and a little sister.

In places the writing quality dipped, particularly during fighting, with redundant words or phrases. The rest of the time the quality was high and made me want to keep reading.

A nice quick read, I look forward to reading more.

Doomseeds by Tam Linsey

Title: Doomseeds
Author: Tam Linsey
Series: The Botanicaust series - Book 2
Type of read: eARC
Stars: 


You can follow Tam Linsey on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and her website

How could a rescue mission go so wrong?

A photosynthetic woman ventures into cannibal territory to find her lost sister, but her trader guide has his own goal; he needs to sell her to ransom his father from a cannibal king. Neither rescue mission will go as planned…


I received a free copy of this book in return for an unbiased review. A copy of the review for the previous novel, Botanicaust, can be found here

Set several years after the first book in the Botanicaust series, this was a wonderful re-entry to the world and expanded greatly on it. At first the novel felt a little fragmented as it switched rapidly between several points of view while the reader was still trying to get to grips with the changes that had taken place. However, many of these characters soon came together, or their plans linked in, making it seem whole again.


This novel felt like it had depth. I particularly liked the look we got into the different cultures, and how each of them responded to the others.  It felt as if the author had a tighter hold on cultures and religions, especially when mixing them. This particularly showed when meeting cannibals who were also traders who had to "keep the peace" and not follow the instincts they were brought up on.


The plot twisted back and forth, sometimes to the point of confusion, but any knots were soon unraveled. In the first novel one of the things that got my attention was the way some of the characters were torn between different communities and ways of life, never being accepted, and never feeling they fitted in. In this novel that is ramped even higher, really pulling at the heartstrings.


I felt the ending wrapped up nicely, but I hope for a third novel so can enjoy these characters again.

Botanicaust by Tam Linsey

Title: Botanicaust
Author: Tam Linsey
Series: The Botanicaust series - Book 1
Type of read: eARC
Star rating:

Available from Amazon US Amazon UK
You can follow Tam Linsey on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and her website


The only crop left ... is human.

In an all-too-plausible future where Earth has been overrun by invasive, genetically modified weeds, a doctor with photosynthetic skin risks everything to save a man who refuses to be genetically modified. Together, can they find sanctuary in a cannibal wasteland?

I was lucky enough to be offered an eARC of the second novel in the Botanicaust series, called Doomseeds. The author, Tam Linsey, also gave me a copy of the first novel so I could better judge the series. The review of that novel is to come shortly, however I wanted to give a review to this promising novel in its own right.

The first thing that hit me with this novel was the extensive world building right from the first page. A world barren of life as we know it with humans split off into almost separate species, all trying to keep away from the others and live their way of life. The introduction was quick, making clever use of actions to do this, thus avoiding an infodump.

The protagonist was easy to identify with, a single father desperately trying to find a cure for his terminal son from fabled beings living in their world. He drew the story forth, drawing emotions clearly on the page. Almost all of his interaction with other people were written very skillfully, especially when there was no common language and they had to resort to rudimentary sign language.

My only issue was the lack of sexual tension between him and another character, where I believe it was intended. They'd have sex then carry on as if nothing ever happened. Some of this was explained away later in the book as you came to understand the species better, but I still feel it could have been handled better.

I was very impressed with this novel, it ticked all the boxes, and shows an extremely promising writer.

FREEBIES: Caverns and Creatures short stories

FREEBIES FREEBIES FREEBIES

Hi there

So I figure showcasing freebies is probably the best way to start off this blog. I'm a big fan of the Caverns and Creatures series by Robert Bevan, stories about a group of people who play a Dungeons and Dragons type game before something goes wrong and they end up as their characters. It has plenty of low brow humour and is just a great escape from the world for a while.

If you haven't encountered the series before I would recommend reading Critical Failures I (USA, UK) before these but I do not think it is essential.

Buzzkill USA UK

Cooper's Christmas Carol USA UK

Zombie Attack!!! USA UK

Orcs, Bears and Assholes USA UK

These will only be free for a couple of days so grab them while you can. If you do get these now, or buy them later I encourage you to leave a review as every little helps authors get more sales.

You can find Robert Bevan on:

Facebook

Goodreads 

Have fun reading

Laura the lurker

Submission guidelines

 Submission guidelines:

Do you have a book you would like reviewed? That's great, I love to read and review. These are my general guidelines, but I am willing to hear from anybody, so please don't hesitate to drop me a line if you are happy to work with my restrictions.

Timeline:

As a minimum time I would ask for 2 weeks for a standard length novel, but depending on length I may request longer. I will read a book of any length.

Genres I prefer to read:

I read pretty much anything, but in order my favourite genres are

Science fiction

Fantasy

Biographies of overcoming adversity.

Historical (including romance, but do me a favour and have the characters realise there's a world out of bed!)

Horror (I'd prefer any zombie, vampire, or whatever-the-current-fad is books have a twist to them, not mindless killing or seducing young girls who want to fawn over main characters)

Please note if this is not the first book in the series I am unlikely to read it on its own unless it is a stand alone. If you are willing to offer copies of all past books, with the knowledge that I may or may not review these, please state that in your email.

How to contact me:

If you are still interested please drop me a line at lauraoflurkingreads@hotmail.co.uk and include:

1.    details of any writing history (have you published before, do you have any social media sites, please include links, a bit about what you enjoy to write, where you hope to go and your intended audience)

2.    Blurb of the book you want reviewed (if this is not the first in the series include links to site such as amazon or goodreads with blurbs of the entire series),

3.    State if this is prerelease and intended release date. If yes do you only want a review if it can be completed before release.

4.    Length in amazon kindle location of wordcount format.

5.    A small excerpt of your writing (approx 500 words) in the body of the email.

I will endeavour to get back to you within 48 hours, public holidays not included. This may be to ask for another excerpt from a different type of scene or more details.

Note that due to health issues this may sometimes take longer but if this is the case I will aim to notify you.

I look forward to hearing from you