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review 2016-07-19 09:45
A Murder of Magpies (Samantha Clair, #1)
A Murder of Magpies - Judith Flanders

I've already written a review of this, but there were details I couldn't remember from my first read (like how Clair and Jake hooked up), and I needed a re-read for my 2016 Summer Book Bingo square, so I spent today refreshing my memory.

 

It's still an excellent read and a lot of fun.  I mentioned in my review of the second book, A Bed of Scorpions, that I thought this one was more chaotic.  It is a chaotic story, but after re-reading it I realise it was the bucket-load of clue review and internal dialogue that had me remembering I didn't like something about it.  I doubt anyone else would find it as annoying but spending a lot of time inside someone's head is a bit of a peeve of mine.

 

Still highly recommended though.

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text 2015-10-23 07:44
Friday Cover Reveal: YA/Horror Halloween 2015 Edition

M9B-Friday-Reveal-Bannernew

 

Welcome to this week’s M9B Friday Reveal!

This week, we present to you the

Horror/Halloween – YA Edition

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

   

Horror-Business-Cover

Armed with a passion for classic B-grade horror movies, a script co-written by his twin brother, and a wicked crush on his death-obsessed neighbor; hardcore horror fan Jason Nightshade must finish his student film.

 

But his plans are derailed when the children of suburban Silver Creek start disappearing – his twin brother among them. Battling a possessed video camera, a crazy zombie dog, a monstrous bully, and a frighteningly broken down family life, Jason embarks on a mission to find his lost brother so the two can write an ending for his story.

 

As any horror fan knows, saving the day won’t be easy, as Jason finds himself forced to face the real world where death isn’t just a splash of fake blood on a camera lens.

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ryanauthorpic3-300x200

Ryan grew up in Park City, Utah. His fiction has appeared in Quarterly West, Paper Darts, Vice, Monkeybicycle and [PANK]. He currently lives in San Diego where he acts as Creative Director for the nonprofit literary arts organization So Say We All. He’s the co-editor of the anthology Last Night on Earth and founder of the literary horror journal, Black Candies.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram| YouTube

   

Nighthouse-cover-new

Bianca St. Germain works at a Night House, a place where vampires like the aristocratic Jeremiah Archer, pay to feed on humans, and she doesn’t much care what others think of her. The money is good, and at least there, she’s safe. Bianca also doesn’t care that the Night House is killing her. All she cares about is: nauth, the highly addictive poison in vampire bites that brings a euphoria like no drug ever could.

 

But when Bianca meets James, a reclusive empath who feels everything she does, for the first time, she considers a life outside of the Night House and a someone worth living for. But Jeremiah has decided to keep Bianca for himself; he won’t allow her to walk away.

 

As she allows her feelings for James to grow, she struggles to contain nauth's strong hold on her life. If they are to have a future, James must make her see what she's worth, what she means to him, before Jeremiah and nauth claim her for good.

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  DCIM100MEDIA

Rachel Tafoya studied creative writing while at Solebury School and was published in their student run literary magazine, SLAM. She attended a writing program for teens at both Susquehanna University and Denison University, and the Experimental Writing for Teens class and Novels for Young Writers program, both run by NY Times bestselling author, Jonathan Maberry. Rachel is the daughter crime author Dennis Tafoya.

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A-Murder-of-Magpies-Cover

Winter in Black Orchard, Wisconsin, is long and dark, and sixteen-year-old Vayda Silver prays the snow will keep the truth and secrecy of the last two years buried. Hiding from the past with her father and twin brother, Vayda knows the rules: never return to the town of her mother’s murder, and never work a Mind Game where someone might see.

 

No one can know the toll emotions take on Vayda, how emotion becomes energy in her hands, or how she can’t control the destruction she causes. But it’s not long before her powers can no longer be contained. The truth is dangerously close to being exposed, placing Vayda and her family at risk. Until someone quiets the chaos inside her.

 

Unwanted. That’s all Ward Ravenscroft has ever been. To cope, he numbs the pain of rejection by denying himself emotions of any kind. Yet Vayda stirs something in him. He can’t explain the hold she has on him–inspiring him with both hope and fear. He claims not to scare easily, except he doesn’t know what her powers can do. Yet.

 

Just as Vadya and Ward draw closer, she finds the past isn’t so easily buried. And when it follows the Silvers to Black Orchard, it has murder in mind.

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Sarah Bromley

Sarah Bromley lives near St. Louis with her husband, three children, and two dogs. She likes the quiet hours of morning when she can drink coffee in peace, stare into the woods behind her house, and wonder what monsters live there. When she’s not writing or wrangling small children, she can be found volunteering at a stable for disabled riders.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

   

Call-Me-Grim-Cover

The truck should have turned Libbi Piper into a Libbi Pancake—and it would have, too, if Aaron hadn't shown up and saved her life. The problem? Aaron's the local Grim Reaper . . . and he only saved Libbi's life because he needs someone to take over his job. Now, Libbi has two days to choose between dying like she was supposed to, or living a lonely life as Death Incarnate. Talk about a rock and a hard place. And the choice goes from hard to sucktastic when her best friend shows up marked: condemned as a future murderer. Libbi could have an extra week to stop the murder and fix the mark . . . but only if she accepts Aaron's job as Reaper, trapping herself in her crappy town forever, invisible and inaudible to everyone except the newly dead. But, if she refuses? Her best friend is headed straight for Hell.

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Elizabeth Holloway

Elizabeth Holloway is a writer of young adult fiction living in Southern Pennsylvania with her two teen children and their growing number of pets.

In addition to writing, she is a registered nurse, an avid reader, an out-of-practice artist, a karaoke singer, and music lover. She is still trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

   

Fingers-in-the-Mist-Cover

Sixteen-year-old Caitlyn Foster never believed in the legend of the Redeemers. That was before the trees started to whisper her name. Before a murder of crows attacked the town. Before she and her family came home to find a bloody handprint on their front door, marking one of them as a sacrifice. As Caitlyn’s friends are ripped from their homes, she knows it’s only a matter of time before the Redeemers come for her. Caitlyn has the power to stop the terror, but she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to sacrifice herself to save those she loves.

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O’Dell Hutchison

O’Dell was born in a small rural town in Idaho. There were no Redeemers living there (that he knows of). After attending college in the Pacific Northwest, he found his way to the Houston area. By day, he is a Business Systems Analyst and at night you can either find him sitting at home, dreaming of random super powers he wishes he had, or directing plays and musicals at various theaters around Houston.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

   

A-Whispered-Darkness-Cover

When Claire Mallory’s father leaves, her mom moves them to a new town and into a dilapidated Victorian house.

 

The old house creaks and whistles, and smells well — like it’s been abandoned for years. But as the nights grow longer and the shadows take on substance, Claire wonders if the strange sounds and occurrences might be more than the house showing its age.

 

Just as things start to pick up in Claire’s love life, her mother becomes possessed. In an attempt to save her mother and their new home, Claire enlists the help of two boys, each of whom is interested in Claire for different reasons. As she chooses one boy over the other, something dangerous is unleashed, and the spirits make their move.

 

They aren’t content to moan and scream inside Claire’s house, or even control her mom. They want a taste of freedom, and she’s their key to getting it. But is Claire strong enough to fight off the evil spirits, or will they claim her and her mom before it’s all over?

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Vanessa Barger was born in West Virginia, and through several moves ended up spending the majority of her life in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She is a graduate of George Mason University and Old Dominion University, and has degrees in Graphic Design, a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, and a Masters in Technology Education.

 

She has had articles published in Altered Arts Magazine, has had some artwork displayed in galleries in Ohio and online, and currently teaches engineering, practical physics, drafting and other technological things to high school students in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. She is a member of the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and the Virginia Writer's Club. When not writing or teaching, she’s a bookaholic, movie fanatic, and loves to travel. She has one cat, who believes Vanessa lives only to open cat food cans, and can often be found baking when she should be editing.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

   

Shadows-Fall-Away-Cover

Mark Stewart is one incident away from becoming a juvenile delinquent, and his parents have had enough. They ship Mark off to London, England, to stay with his eccentric aunt Agatha who is obsessed with all things Jack the Ripper. After a strange twist of luck, Mark is struck by lightning, and he wakes to find himself in 1888 Victorian London. His interest in a string of murders Scotland Yard has yet to solve make him a likely suspect. After all, why would a young boy like Mark know so much about the murders?

 

Could he be the ripper they've been searching for? Convinced the only way to get back home is to solve the murders, Mark dives headfirst into uncovering the truth. Mark's only distraction comes in the form of the beautiful Genie Trembly, a girl who is totally out of his league and who may have already caught the attention of the infamous ripper. To save her, he'll endanger both their lives, and risk being trapped in the past forever.

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Kit Forbes

Kit Forbes has been a lover of books, history, and all things paranormal for as long as she can remember. She lives in Western Pennsylvania with her youngest daughter and an assortment of cats who give new meaning to the world bizarre.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

   

Predator-Cover

The hunt is on! Sixteen-year-old Bree Sunderland must inject herself with an untested version of her father’s gene therapy to become a werewolf in order to stop a corrupt group of mercenaries from creating a team of unstoppable lycanthrope soldiers.

 

When Bree went with her scientist father to Ireland, she thought it would be a vacation to study bog bodies. She never expected to fall in love with a mysterious young Irishman and certainly never expected to become the kind of monster her father said only existed in nightmares. Dr. Sunderland discovers that lycanthropy was not a supernatural curse but rather a genetic mutation. When they return home, her dad continues his research, but the military wants to turn that research into a bio weapons program and rogue soldiers want to steal the research to turn themselves into unstoppable killing machines.

 

Bree’s boyfriend Liam surprises her with a visit to the United States, but there are darker surprises in store for both of them. As evil forces hunt those she loves, Bree must become an even more dangerous hunter to save them all.

Bree will become the thing she hates, to protect those she loves!

 

'Predator' gives the werewolf legend a couple of new spins by introducing the Benandanti (an actual folkloric belief that certain families of Italy and Livonia were werewolves who fought against evil), as well as a modern scientific approach to mutation and the science of transgenics.

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Janice Gable Bashman

Janice Gable Bashman is the Bram Stoker nominated author of Wanted Undead or Alive and Predator. She is managing editor of the The Big Thrill (International Thriller Writers’ ezine). Janice lives with her family in the Philadelphia area, where she at work on her next novel. Visit her at janicegablebashman.com.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

   

Praefatio-Cover

Seventeen-year-old Grace Ann Miller is no ordinary runaway...

After having been missing for weeks, Grace is found on the estate of international rock star Gavin Vault, half-dressed and yelling for help. Over the course of twenty-four hours Grace holds an entire police force captive with incredulous tales of angels, demons, and war; intent on saving Gavin from lockup and her family from worry over her safety.

 

Authorities believe that Grace is ill, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, the victim of assault and a severely fractured mind. Undeterred, Grace reveals the secret existence of dark angels on earth, an ancient prophecy and a wretched curse steeped in Biblical myth. Grace’s claims set into motion an ages-old war, resulting in blood, death and the loss of everything that matters. But are these the delusions of an immensely sick girl, or could Grace’s story actually be true?

 

Praefatio is Grace’s account of weeks on the run, falling in love and losing everything but her faith. When it’s sister against brother, light versus darkness, corrupt police officers, eager doctors and accusing journalists, against one girl with nothing but her word as proof: who do you believe?

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Georgia McBride

Georgia loves a good story. Whether it’s writing her own, or publishing someone else’s, story is at the heart of everything Georgia does. Founder of Month9Books, YALITCHAT.ORG and the weekly #yalitchat on Twitter, Georgia spends most of her days writing, editing, or talking about books. That is, of course, when she is not blasting really loud music or reading. She lives in North Carolina with four dogs, a frog, a parrot, 2 kids, parents and a husband. PRAEFATIO is her first novel.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook

 

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review 2015-04-26 11:35
A Murder of Magpies
A Murder of Magpies - Judith Flanders

This is Judith Flanders' first mystery novel after a string of well-received non-fiction books including The Victorian House and The Victorian City.  I have The Making of Home on my TBR pile but I haven't yet started it so I can't say first hand how enjoyable her non-fiction writing is yet, but her fiction was extremely entertaining.

 

Samantha Clair is an editor for a publishing firm in London, where her purview is "women's fiction".  Honestly, I liked reading about her job more than I enjoyed the mystery.  Both were good, but the author's wit and dry humor really shine when Sam is in the office and interacting with her assistant Miranda.

 

The writing is spare and blunt and it works really well.  If it ever faltered it was in the build-up to Sam and Jake getting personal.  One flirtatious voice mail was about the sum total of any "wooing".  There are some out there who won't like this and call it completely un-realistic, but I know relationships that have started just like this and I appreciated that the author chose a rather no-nonsense approach to the relationship instead of the "romancing" that a lot of people seem to think is required for the sake of realism.  It isn't - it's just more fun to read about.

 

While I did enjoy reading about Sam at work the most, the mystery was still a good one.  I'll concede that the final scene could be construed as TSTL, but there's room for argument.  Otherwise, the mystery itself was clever and layered and the kind that is solved through research.  I few connections Sam made felt a little forced but otherwise, I enjoyed watching the puzzle come together.

 

I don't know if this is the first in a series, or a one-off, but I'd certainly welcome more and I'll keep an eye out and hope for further adventures.

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text 2015-03-06 01:40
TBR Thursday (March)
Paw and Order - Diane Kelly
A Murder of Magpies - Judith Flanders
Vision in Silver - Anne Bishop
Stiff Penalty - Annalise Ryan

After my January buy-a-thon, the flow of books coming in the post feels like more of a trickle, but I need to get over that.  Buying books at the rate I was buying them in January would only guarantee my demise under a toppled pile of books sooner rather than later.  When I look at the TBR piles, I'm pretty sure at least one of them sways ever so slightly.

 

Anyhoo... what arrived this week:

 

Paw and Order - Diane Kelly: I wasn't expecting to like the first one in the series at all because of the alternating POV with a dog, but the book surprised me and I finished it wanting to move straight into the second book.  Dodgy online bookstores interfered with this plan, but I finally received it and re-learned my lesson about sticking with trusted booksellers.

 

A Murder of Magpies - Judith Flanders:  Someone here on BL read an ARC of this ages ago and it sounded great, so I've been waiting on publication ever since.  I'm also very interested in her non-fiction but haven't found any of it at the local shops/library.  Yet.

 

Vision in Silver - Anne Bishop:  Reading this one now and will finish it today.

 

Stiff Penalty - Annalise Ryan: I love this series; the MC is a coroner's assistant and life is just not kind to this woman, although only in the way it makes you laugh.

 

I don't know the total number of books in my piles - I rearrange them periodically, but I've never actually counted.  But I read 4 books last week, 3 of which came off the pile, and I received 4 this week, one of which I'm reading now.  So... pretty  much a wash in terms of TBR building/shrinking.  I'll take that.  :)

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review 2015-02-10 01:29
Witty heroine, bland book
A Murder of Magpies - Judith Flanders

I received this ARC from the publisher through Netgalley.

 

An average cozy mystery, this book features an unusual protagonist—a book editor. Sam’s main concern at the beginning of the novel is the latest manuscript of her star writer. Then another of her writers, a fashion journalist with a penchant of digging dirt on high couture, goes missing, and she decides to investigate. Or rather to ask questions in places the police wouldn’t go.

Despite the engaging premise, the story was slow and a bit dull, without the absorbing qualities of the best books in the genre. Every bit of praise I can give this book is tempered by a ‘but.’

The mystery was interesting, with an unconventional and unexpected solution, but the narration leading up to the unmasking of the villain(s) was too full of mind-numbing legalese and corporate finances, and the main proof of guilt too flimsy to be real. The author used to write non-fiction; her attention to details is scrupulous, but it made the text vaguely boring.

The protagonist Sam was a fascinating character, a bit grumpy, forty-year-old publishing professional, with no illusions about life and literature and a sardonic attitude, but the rest of the characters were placeholders.

The author introduced a romance in her plot, which should’ve spiced up the tale, but there was no built-up, no attraction, no improper urges of Sam’s part. No spice. One day she meets a guy. A few days later, she jumps in bed with him. After that, they seem to become a couple.

The writing was reasonably clean. A few glitches in spelling and grammar could be explained by its being an uncorrected proof. On the other hand, humor sparkling in Sam’s sarcastic musings and witty dialogs was what saved this book from being totally blah.

A few quotes below demonstrate Sam’s saucy side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

In all the books I’d ever read, Our Hero is brutally assaulted, tied up for seventy-two hours, frequently being hung by his ankles in the process. When he frees himself by gnawing through the ropes, he stops only for a quick drink and then charges straight off after the villains. Another cherished illusion gone. It was plain to me now that what Our Hero would really do was lie in bed and moan gently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the real world, no one kidnaps academics or journalists because no one wants them. It’s hard enough to get rid of them after dinner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last refuge of the intelligentsia: when real life gets too difficult, go find something to read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was going to burgle someone’s office because my mother told me to. I wondered if the judge would consider that a mitigating circumstance.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the whole, it was a solid cozy with a blunt but kind-hearted heroine.

 

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