I received a complimentary Kindle copy of 5 Minutes by Gareth Stokes in an Amazon promotion in exchange for a fair review.

I gave this book four stars.

"They looked like scared promises, made in a time when everything belonged to us but the future, and the purchase of that was assured by each infant forced from my belly. The future would be forever ours, so certain we were always."

One child had hemophilia and had thrown himself downstairs in what his mother believed an attempt at suicide. She wondered how an innocent could conceive of such a notion.

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/5-Minutes-Gareth-Stokes-ebook/dp/B005239D9E

      The main character, Ripley, believes himself to be in a dream. The reader needs to buy-in as the focus shifts towards the dream being a new reality; a very strange one, but reality nevertheless. This either works for one, or it doesn’t. I am reasonably good at suspending belief, however, this story lost a good deal of its ‘believability’ for me. The book has some excellent reviews, so probably I am unusual. From the point at which I felt obliged to see the story as more than the telling of a dream I could no longer make any sense of the animal effigias attached to every semi-human. For me, fantasy needs to at least hold a thin string to scientific and/or philosophical plausibility. The buy-in isn’t helped by some serious structural problem with the book. The constant and insufficiently marked point of view changes, head-hopping, is very distracting. Often all we get is a line-break between the thinking and actions of varied changing characters, which often flicks to different locations and time frames. Then on top of that we have the confusion of the characters twinned animals communicating telephonically, with the warning of italics, but again without clear point of view direction. There are quite a few ungrammatical links between phrases, which sometimes jolted my progress. They didn’t distract me for more than a moment, as the story’s buzz was so good. However, the liaison between sentences doesn’t always bear up well under scrutiny.

     The book could be improved dramatically by simply employing different typeface for different species, so helping one with the shifting scenes and characters. Changes in physical script would have also helped to give a greater variety of voice. Okay- this sort of typeface manipulation is frowned on by many literary purists, as of course traditional standards of grammar and sentence construction can make any point of view shift perfectly clear, but I think that this book is a case in point for the use of such devices. There is such a complexity of ‘communication’ between the characters, and a such a strong requirement in the writing style to shift focus quickly, that I think a mix of unorthodox cues for the reader is entirely justifiable.

     So why then am I actually very positive, able to report that I enjoyed the book so much? Well, clearly it could be a lot better with a comprehensive rewrite. However, this is great entertainment. I had no trouble in finishing the book, when usually with so many structural faults I would have abandoned it very early on. Stokes’s writing draws very clear pictures and plenty of colour. I got a very strong sense of what her strange creation looks and feels like. The story and the speculative thinking behind the book is strong, bringing together many mythological ideas and rebuilding them in an intriguing way. With comprehensive editing this could become a really good fantasy novel rather than just a really good story. The ending is very thought provoking. I liked that very much.

AMAZON LINK

A Coronation of Kings by Samuel Stokes is the first installment of the Chronicles of Meldinar. Tristan is son and heir to Marcus, Lord of the Listarii. Never knowing his mother, Tristan was raised by his father. After losing everything he loved, Tristan vows revenge on those who destroyed his world.

This book has so much potential; it has all the elements for an excellent epic fantasy, but the execution and the lack of editing had me pulling my hair out! It is truly a shame. Hopefully the next installment will be better executed, and better edited. Also, the characters could use a bit more fleshing out. I'm willing to give the next installment a try because of Stokes' potential.

This is a tale of young man’s first deer hunt. The author starts us off with a personal note of how deer hunting has been a part of his life even if he no longer directly participates.

Set in Wisconsin in 1947, a teen boy on the cusp of manhood is invited on his first deer hunt. On the first night of the hunt, there’s stories and manly cooking at the hunting cabin as Uncle Duffy and his friends deal out the cards. Our hero soaks it all up. He desperately wants to be considered one of them. He feels a driving need to prove himself on this week-long deer hunt and he fears he won’t measure up.

First, I was a bit surprised that he was allowed to wander the woods alone on his first hunt as we typically make sure to go by twos on any kind of hike that is over an hour long. It’s a little unclear if the area was well known to our young hunter or not. Anyway, he navigates his way back to the cabin day after day.

There’s a rising urgency as the hunt progresses. The men shares stories of hunts past. I liked how the story built up and up. I could really feel the young man’s need to prove himself worthy. When finally the moment comes, there’s a big snag in his triumph, followed by a triumph of another kind. I was surprised by how things ended but was also well satisfied with it. Years later when this kid is a seasoned hunter, he will look back on this incident with wry humor.

I received a free copy of this book.

Narration: Johnny Mack continues to do justice to this author’s short stories. He does a good job of sounding like a young man and also of sounding like an older Uncle Duffy.

This book was a special Valentine's Day Anthology for the lovers of romance.  It has 9 pretty terrific stories inside.  These stories sure give you choices for what you may be in the mood to read.

I read Naughty Wishes, by Sarah Castille.  This author is a "go to" in my purchasing romance titles.  She hits the bar, raises it, and gives me more.  This story was about a couple who have been married a while.  They have need to spice up things, since in the bedroom loving has been somewhat cooler.  Kylie decides to surprise Dan with a night of delight.  He has a surprise for her too.

I found that no matter what I read from this book, it made me have the feels.  I really felt like this was a great collection and I hope these authors make another one next year.  I give this anthology a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

***This copy was given as a gift for the Valentine holiday.