Books, great reads, indie author, Reviews, scifi

Extant by Anthony Vicino

Karen

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Anthony Vicino is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. So when he sent me this story and asked if I would read it I said of course! then I realized I already owned it..I know, it’s sad when you get a book more than once. Don’t deny it, you know you’ve all fought with Amazon demanding to buy a book that they refuse to let you click on, and then after 10 minutes of you being sure that the whole system is broken and you’re convinced you are going to have to call customer service you finally read what’s on the screen and you realize that it’s been trying to tell you this whole time that you already own the book. No? That’s just me? Okay then moving on…

Let’s start with the blurb, totally snatched from goodreads: Manipulating time always comes at a cost. For Special Agent Kaelyn Kwon, Blinking means living with one foot in the past and one foot in the present. Torn between memories of what was, and what could have been, she must use her power to decide what is yet to be.
A 10,000 word short adventure filled with action, time travel, and intrigue!

It is a shortie, I originally owned it in an anthology called The Time Travel Chronicles but since I still haven’t gotten around to reading the whole thing I’m going to stick to just talking about this story.

What I really liked about this book was the concept. You’ve got this place where people can control time, but it’s limited to 32 seconds (there are reasons for this, reasons I accept) and three different abilities. You have ones who can move forward in time, backwards, or freeze time. My favorite part was when three of them were working together, it was backwards, forward, forward, forward, backwards, stop, forwards, (please don’t quote me on that order I just made it up) but it felt like a rush constant time flipping I felt the craziness of that and loved it. Also as Anthony does so well there was an standard plot rescue mission and then the deeper psychological plot of how time travel effected the traveler.

This story did leave me with many questions about the world and the players within but it was a great read and from what I understand a great set up for the next book to come. It’s on sale now for $0.99 from Amazon, you know what I’ll even be nice and throw up a link for you to go grab it. Support your local indie author today, and read a fun short story, everyone wins!

Out of the Box Blogs

Leave of Absence?

Karen

Hello everyone! I’m back and was going to write a review on a book I just read but I feel as if I need to explain my disappearance the last two months. This last summer I was fortunate to get to move back to Hawaii which is where my family raised me from a teenager and I have spent many years to help my parents retire. I thought it was going to be great, I mean the weather is awesome, I have fantastic friends here and a job I really like. Unfortunately I’ve gotten very sick and we recently discovered it’s a reaction to the vog (the nasty ash that comes out of volcanos) that has been drifting here from the Big Island. As a kid Maui never really had a big problem with this but with new vents opening on the volcano our air quality has gotten worse and worse. So I have had to decide to leave Hawaii and move back to the mainland. The combined being sick and trying to make moving plans is making me very neglectful and for that I do apologize. I should be off the islands by the end of the month but the doctors warn me that it may take time for my body to heal so I have to confess that my post may continue to be sporadic for another few months. Sick with me kids I hope to be back in fighting form soon!

Thanks for listening and hope you like the review to follow!

Books, great reads, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance

Light of Dawn by Angela Colsin

debra

Light of Dawn is Book 2 of The Crucible Series by Angela Colsin, an independent author I have recently found.

The Blurb:  Hired to find a curse box, the draconian mercenary, Ulric Dra’Kai, is directed to seek out the human Charlotte Mulligan who’ll lead him to his ultimate goal. Expecting to get information from her with ease, Ulric instead meets a determined mortal who refuses to be intimidated—and draws him in like no other.

As that attraction grows, he comes to believe Charlotte may be his destined mate, but there’s a problem—he’s immortal, making that impossible. Answers could possibly lie in the dormant supernatural side of Charlotte’s lineage, but getting them proves difficult when vampires are out for her blood.

Charlotte thought she was an ordinary human living an average life until receiving an odd package in the mail containing a unique trinket box. Soon after, she’s attacked by vampires and swept up in a hunt by a dangerous but attractive stranger who not only reveals the truth of the supernatural world, but also informs her that she’s a part of it.

Trying to survive while her life is coming apart, a passion for the draconian protecting her sparks to life, one she has to guard her heart against when being mortal makes a union between them difficult, if not impossible.

My thoughts:  I enjoyed this book, even more than Book 1 of the series (Blue Moon, previously reviewed).  We meet Ulric and his sidekick, Isaac, in Blue Moon and this book is Ulric’s story.  Ulric is a Draconian, a descendent of humans mixed with the blood of one of five Dragon Houses.  Charlotte is a mortal at the beginning of the story, but there is more to her than being a mere mortal.  Ulric is hired to find a mysterious mystical item and runs into Charlotte by way of a divination made to him by a supernatural being.  Adventures ensue from there.  Needless to say, Charlotte is not exactly what Ulric expects.  He thinks he is boss but she shows him that she is not a pushover. I like a strong heroine and I really enjoyed that aspect of their relationship.  Adventures fighting vampires, each other (and themselves) all make for an interesting story worth reading.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.