The Contaminants by Devin K. Smyth

When the American Government plans for a global purification of sorts, it sets of a chain of events resulting in a nuclear holocaust.

They had ships set in place to take people into space, but only this one survived. Jessil was forced to leave her father behind, and only has her two brothers – Ben and Lo.

The Contaminants is told through the eyes of the two protagonists Raj and Jessil.

Raj’s father is a scientists that works in the laboratory trying to regenerate part of the Earth’s surface to make it safe for their ship to land. They are naming this new area New Dakota and they only have about six months left to orbit the Earth before they run out of fuel.

Then they discover something amazing. It appears as if there is grass growing back on Earth, and after further examining the camera feed from New Dakota, they see a human. A human that Jessil believes is her father.

Was he actually able to survive the nuclear holocaust on Earth?

This is a very character-driven book. The characters are all really strong, and a lot of effort has been put into creating them.

That being said, I didn’t necessarily like all of them. My least favorite characters were Lo and Jessil.

Lo was a whiney little brat throughout the book, and I didn’t feel there was really a need for him to be there. He didn’t add anything to the story for me. The fact that he was adopted didn’t really matter to me either.

Jessil seemed like a know-it-all that didn’t want to listen to others. Her personality was a little too strong, and it took away from the plot at times. Being strong-willed obviously led to getting her way, but I would rather have read some dialogue about making decisions rather than her bossing people around and going off by herself.

Raj was sort of a redeeming character. He is very smart, yet he is able to put up with Jessil and tries to cancel out her overbearing self at times. He was probably the best character in my eyes. 

This book was pretty easy to not put down. The chapters I guess you could call them were pretty short so it was easy for my mind not to wander. There was plenty of action to hold my attention, and the flow of the book allowed for a lot of pages to be read without realizing it.

For a genre of fantasy/sci-fi that I don’t dive into as much, I wasn’t disappointed with this one.

3/5 stars

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Demonworld Book 1 by Kyle B. Stiff

Reading Demonworld is almost like being thrust into an action packed nightmare full of devilish creatures one would never want to face in real life.

When Wodi wakes up in a place full of darkness, he doesn’t know how he got there or why he is there. As he starts exploring, he runs into other people from Haven just like him who were dropped into the same place for seemingly no reason. They team up to try to get back home, but encountering demons and ghouls puts a damper on their progress.

After finally feeling a little sense of relief, Wodi is separated from his only remaining partner and wakes up amongst a group of slaves. They are led by the Ugly, and Wodi (turned Wodan) has decided the slaves need to fight back against the Ugly so that they can live in freedom. It takes a lot of work and a lot of convincing, but eventually he gets a good number of people on his side, and it is time for action.

The ending of this book offers a lot of action. There is a huge gun fight. Only the strongest will come out alive.

I feel this book may have worked better being broken up into two parts. If not made into two separate books, maybe having a book 1 and book 2 within it. Book 2 should begin after Wodi (then Wodan) gets mixed up with the Ugly and takes leadership over the slaves. I feel these are two separate story lines that should be split up, otherwise it is a little hard to soak it in all at once.

The attention paid to detail in the writing is very good. It is easy to imagine the scenery even though it is far beyond what any of us have seen except for maybe in movies or dreams. The beasts are also well described. This book is very visual, except it has no pictures. If the author had not paid as much attention to detail, it would completely fail as the reader would have no idea what was going on.

That being said, some of the chapters were a bit long and it was a little hard to soak in all at once. In some, there were chapter breaks where it would switch to a different story line involving Haven guardians and scientists. It was a little difficult to see how they meshed together at points, and the idea of the Project was only relevant during those short chapter breaks. I suppose that is because this is a book one and it is setting up for the rest of the series, but I would have liked to have gained a little more knowledge of the Project earlier in the book.

What I take away from this is it was a book about good against evil; A play on heaven and hell – demons and angels. The whole book had religious undertones, and it really becomes apparent at the end.

It was an interesting story. I feel some of the chapters and sections were drawn out when they could have been shorter. Once I reached the end, the whole first have seemed a bit irrelevant except for the fact Wodi draws his strength from what he went through at the beginning.

Wodi is developed well as a character, but I feel like the rest didn’t have much time to develop in this one. But being the first in a series, that can happen.

There were also a lot of horses killed in it. Didn’t like that factor too much.

3.5/5 stars. 

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Sign Changes by Bart Hopkins Jr.

Sign Changes was an interesting book.

It follows four different story lines that seemingly are all connected despite the fact that they take place at different times sometimes centuries apart.

What I gathered from it was that it was a book about language and communication. It makes you think about how language was made and how it has carried throughout time to keep communication consistent.

The stories by themselves were interesting, but where it lost me was when they were supposed to connect. Maybe it would have been a bit more clear is each story was told in its entirety, then it moved on to the next. But, it jumped around so much that I found myself confused more often than not. I would just start getting into one of the stories, then it would switch to one of the others.

I feel like the idea for this book was right on point as it was really interesting, the execution was just a bit off to me. It was hard to follow at times.

In saying that, I did enjoy the writing style, or maybe I should say the author's voice. I did not find myself bored reading it. I don't feel the author went over the top or tried too hard in the execution which is something you find a lot when dealing with books that are a little different from the norm.

So overall, the actual writing was good, but the layout and arrangement (or execution) was a bit off. 

3/5 stars. I liked it, but I was confused. 

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A Magical and Inspiring Book Two: And Then There’s Haley by Marissa Marchan

This book is the sequel to A Boy Named Ray. My review of that one is HERE.

Theo, Mary, and Ray are back for this one. There is a new addition to their family, though. Theo and Mary have a daughter named Haley. She is just as perfect and gifted as Ray.

She shares his abilities of being able to talk to nature except she connects more with plants and animals, and Ray with natural forces such as wind and water.

This is just a nice feel good story. It is in the realm of science fiction, so some of the reactions and story lines are not realistic, but it isn’t meant to be.

What I found to be pretty interesting with this book was that every chapter told a different story, but it all came together to tell one big story. It was fun to put together.

For being so short, each character was well developed. This may be due to the fact that we were introduced to Theo, Mary & Ray in the first book, but nonetheless, I did not feel disappointed with any of the character developments. It was done very well.

The story was also well rounded. It completed the story circle beginning in the first book. Theo and his family are able to return to the town that they were run out of for being ugly. When Theo and Haley return after hearing that the once beautiful town has gone to ruin, they help restore the town with the help of Haley and Ray’s unique gifts. The family is accepted back into the town, and everyone is happy again.

While unrealistic at times, the real story these two books are telling is that doing a simple nice deed for someone can go a long way in the end. That is a lesson I feel people need to be reminded of more often. These books do a good job of conveying these messages through fun and interesting mini story lines within one complete story.

3.5/5 stars. I really enjoyed it, but there needs to be some editing  due to some grammar mistakes and wrong pronouns. 

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We Shadows by Thomm Quackenbush

We Shadows is the first book in the Night’s Dream Series.

If I had to sum this up in one sentence, it would be: You have to have quite the imagination to get into this one.

That being said, it was a very interesting book. Most of the time I didn’t know what was going on, so I am glad that it was only the first book. Hopefully the other two will do better to explain what was happening.

After a night of drinking, the main character, Shane, ends up in a crazy world where she doesn’t know if she is real or not. Dead or alive. Fact or Fiction.

She is in an in between state and only certain people can see her.

Mourning the loss of her boyfriend, she never really recovers from that sadness. He is always the first thing on her mind.

While trying to uncover the secrets of Eliot’s death and her own weird occurrences, she runs into some strange people along the way, though they will turn out to be what she really needs in the end.

A witch and a girl with no name.

With new found powers and strange people around her, Shane must try to figure out what is going on.

It all seems to come together at the end, but I suppose we will only really know after reading the last two.

2.5/5 stars. I don’t feel that there was ever really a take off point for this story. It all seemed to go at the same pace. I was confused much of the time, but through all of that, it was still intriguing. 

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Demon Inhibitions by Gary Starta

Have you ever thought about there being someone out there in the world (or a different world) that looked just like you and was your alternate self?

Well, in this novel, Caitlin Diggs does not have to wonder about this. She is forced to confront this notion.

Caitlin is a former FBI agent that left the force because she came into having some supernatural powers. 

When a case calls for her to hunt down a truly evil demon and try to bring him to justice, her life is changed forever.

From discovering a world where demons are as common as humans, to evolving into a goddess herself, Caitlin must reevaluate all of her previous thoughts about everything mystical and paranormal to fit into this world and do the job that put her there in the first place.

There isn't much else to say about this one other than: READ IT. It is exciting and keeps you hooked from the very beginning.

5/5 stars It was pretty hard to put this one down. I don’t normally read books about demons, vampires, etc. But this one was really good!

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Black Book Part 2: Out of Time by Dylan Jones

Sherriff Jack is back!

This installment of Black Book was more confusing than the first.

There were two different story-lines that were being shared, and the one with the President lost me after they were placed into Pods.

It seemed like they were aliens… or facing aliens. I am not really sure.

Then there was the story line that was centered around Jack. I think he was travelling back in time? Then he ends up with an old man that knows him, but he doesn’t know the old man.

It was intriguing, maybe because I was trying to figure out what was going on.

I am looking forward to reading the 3^rd installment, and maybe some of it will be cleared up.

2/5 stars. I just could not figure out what was going on half of the time, but it left off as a cliff hanger, and I want to know what happens next. 

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Last Regress by Rachael Thorne

This book is a wonderful combination of paranormal, Sci-fi, and romance. These are three different genres (though paranormal and sci-fi can sometimes go hand in hand), but the way they are woven together makes this story captivating.

The main character, Alyssa, works for a company that investigates the paranormal. She is interested in cases that are unusual and go unsolved.

When she opens the case file of the deceased Cain Andrews, her life is changed forever. Whether that is for better or worse is up to the reader to decide after finishing the book!

The story of Alyssa and Cain is wonderful, tragic, heart-breaking, and scary all wrapped up in one. You get a dose of everything.

There is also Alyssa’s best friend, Greg, He doesn’t believe anything Alyssa is going through, and after a while, as the reader, he begins to put doubt in your mind as well.

This book is written beautifully; the characters all have a wonderful story arc, and are completely developed. You have a sense of each of their personalities and feel as if you know them personally.

5/5 stars. Beautiful story, Wonderfully written.

It also leaves open the possibility for a sequel!

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Capella Bright by Tara McCausland

The end of this book is TERRIBL…….Y SUSPENSEFUL!

My jaw dropped as I read the last line.

If you like cliff hangers, don’t even read the rest of this review, just go directly to the link and purchase this book! I promise, you won’t regret it!

But I shall continue this… even though the top part should convince you right away to get it.

Moving on…

This book is geared toward young adults and features romance, family drama (that can be very relatable to some), and….. aliens again? Common theme here in February I see!

Actually, this book was fun to read after the last one I had read because they were both so DIFFERENT! It was kinda cool to compare the way the “others” were portrayed.

Anyways, the main character is Capella Maggie Hart. She meets the new kid in town, Alex, and there is a bond between them right away. One that neither of them could have possibly predicted the outcome of.

Maggie’s best friend has instant interest and is lusting over Alex. But he wants nothing from her. He is more interested in Maggie, quite to her surprise.

As they grow closer, the truth about who Alex really is comes out, and the rest of the book is a wild adventure involving Hunters, Pods, and strange guns.

Will Maggie and Alex be able to grow their budding relationship? Youll just have to read it to find out J

5/5 stars The character development was great. I grew super attached to them, and the story was just as good!

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Alien Tears by Darren Rogers

This novel by Darren Rogers has a little bit of everything. Romance, violence, drama, and …… aliens?

When I began this novel the first thing I noticed was how long it was! But, once I began reading on, that was the furthest thing from my mind.

Alien Tears is centered (for the most part) around an individual named Mark. Mark seems like a typical teenage boy and starts falling heavily for a young lady named Tonya.

There is more to Mark than what you may think.

 -    -      -

The aliens begin taking over Earth after one of their own is killed off by the government.

No one knows how to react, the president resigns, and people are dying by the bunches. The whole world is in chaos.

Would you know how to survive an alien invasion?

All they wanted was to make society better, but society rebelled and brought destruction upon themselves.

This novel reminded me almost of a modern day War of the Worlds.

It was an intense journey. One of happiness, sadness, and some… intimate moments as well.

4/5 stars There were a few grammatical errors that were distracting at times, but if you look past that (there may be a revised version out now), the story is great and will keep you hanging on until the end!

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Read ahead for spoilers

Low-Limb High by Nick Wisseman

Book Five:

A girl in search of the answers for the disappearance of her father and brother. A simple watch will lead the way.

Caroline makes a diagram of her house hoping it will give her the answers.

Are the answers comforting? Or are they more painful than not knowing at all?

This story was very intriguing. It kept me hanging on trying to guess where it was going. It wasn’t what I imagined it would be at all.

There was quite a twist at the end which was exciting.

4/5 It ran a little slow at parts, but the overall story and the twist were interesting.

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Love and World Eaters by Nick Wisseman

Book Four:

This book was about Aliah, a photographer hired to take photos of ancient artifacts.

Something goes wrong and she gets a bone fragment that has a mind of its own stuck inside her skin.

It takes her on a journey to discover the truth of an ancient murder, and drives her almost crazy until she does.

I couldn’t get into this one. That may be because I am not a huge fan of historical fiction. I found it to be bland at times which made it a lot harder to get through.

2.5/5 stars. I am hoping the next one brings more promise. 

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Casting Stones by Laurencia Hoffman

Casting Stones seems like your average story of a dysfunctional family with a bit of a romantic twist thrown in. That is, until you realize there are werewolves involved! Usually, books involving werewolves, vampires, and other creatures are not my reading material of choice. So I figured that my opinion on this book would be a good one to have.

Avery Stone is a cast out from most of his family except his parents and his brother Chance. He never really had a stable relationship with his lover, Simone. His life was a mess, but no one took the time to get to know him. When clans of werewolves started getting murdered, everything got worse. His family blamed him, but little did they know, they were completely wrong and onto the wrong person.

What I really liked about how Hoffman told this story is that the fact that the family is made up of werewolves is not the main story line. It is sort of a subtle detail, except when they transform of course. It is sort of a new way of writing these types of stories. I haven’t read many things in this fashion before. I really liked that.

Another thing I liked about this book was the characters. Okay, I didn’t like all of the characters. But, I liked how they were developed. They all had separate story lines tied into the main story, Avery Stone being the main character. The interesting thing about the character development is that this book is relatively short – under 100 pages on the Nook version. So, the fact that she was able to develop the characters in this short of a story, while actually have the story progress is something that some well-known authors can’t even do with 300+ pages.

So for me, this book fully earns 5/5 stars. It was a really great read.