Sunset by Arshad Ahsanuddin – A BBNYA Spotlight Post

On November 14, 2024November 9, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.

Blurb

An unlikely savior emerges to prevent the advent of mass destruction and genocide descending on the world…

By Day

Los Angeles, 2040. When the terrorist known as Medusa threatens to kill millions with a stolen nuclear bomb, Nick Jameson makes a fateful decision. He reveals himself on global television as a Daywalker – a vampire with a soul. To save Los Angeles, Nick exposes not only his own gifts but three separate cultures based on millennia-old magic.

By Night

The three metahuman races exist in careful balance, working to maintain a fragile peace. Nick and his fellow Daywalkers successfully master their natural bloodlust. The Sentinels, armed with both magic and steel, repress their warlike instincts. And even some Nightwalkers, normally their natural enemies, have deserted the Court of Shadows to join the triple alliance. Nick Jameson is deeply involved with two such Nightwalkers – handsome Lorcan and powerful Rory. Both men love Nick. But neither can protect the new Ambassador to Humanity from the events he has set in motion.

By the Sword

Jeremy Harkness was lured into Medusa’s service under false pretenses. A loner with no one and nothing to cling to, he was willing to die for his cause. But the night Medusa tried to obliterate Los Angeles, Jeremy met Nick Jameson, triggering the onset of his own psychic gifts. For Jeremy is the third race of metahuman, a Sentinel, born to kill the Nightwalkers with no quarter asked or offered. And neither Medusa nor the Court of Shadows will settle for peace when they can make war.

Betrayal and treachery lurk around every corner on the road to coexistence, and at every turn, Nick must question who to trust among his metahuman allies, friends, and lovers—before their civilization is plunged into the depths of darkness and bloodshed. With millennia-old magic, emerging romance, and ever-shifting allegiances, this inventive series unveils a scintillating, homoerotic world of Nightwalkers, Daywalkers, Sentinels, and Humans, who battle for world dominance in the not-too-distant future.

Book Details

Length: 504 Pages

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction

Age Category: Adult

Date Published: February 1, 2011

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/3nZLnkQ (Canada) https://a.co/d/gTmg6fT (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/7MO5WfI (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16154442-sunset

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/d9cb555a-9786-42ad-8e35-4c245450eef6

Or buy it from your local independent bookshop, which is my preferred option.

Author Bio

Arshad Ahsanuddin is a hematopathologist living in Canada. The irony of a physician who specializes in blood disease writing a series of vampire novels has been remarked upon by roughly every person he has ever met. This is his first novel. If you enjoyed this book, then feel free to visit his website at http://www.pactarcanum.com and leave him some feedback.

About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Kavithri by Aman J Bedi

On November 13, 2024November 13, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn AdultLeave a comment

Blurb

Kavi is a Taemu. Her people, once feared berserkers and the spearhead of a continent-spanning invasion, are the dregs of Raayan society. Their spirits crushed. Their swords broken. Their history erased.

But Kavi has a dream and a plan. She will do whatever it takes to earn a place at the secretive mage academy, face the Jinn within its walls, and gain the power to rise above her station and drag her people out of the darkness.

Except power and knowledge come at a cost, and the world no longer needs a Taemu who can fight. So they will break her. Beat her down to her knees. And make her bleed.

But if blood is what they want, Kavi will give them blood. She will give them violence. She will show them a berserker’s fury.

And she will make them remember her name.

Review

This is a debut dark fantasy novel that pulls no punches. The world building is assured and confident, the characters full and vibrant and the story deep and intriguing. It is also gruesome in parts.

There is a lot of back story, both for the main characters and the politics of the world, but this is divulged by different characters at various points in the story, so no long info dumps.

Kavi is an orphan, a Taemu (the lowest of the low in this world’s caste system) and has no one. She doesn’t even trust her own memory about where she comes from and what happened to her family. A chance encounter when she helps someone unexpectedly opens up her world in a way she could not have hoped for, despite it being her goal.

Whilst feeling Kavi’s disappointment, I was pleased that the “expected” ending to the first set of tests in her attempt to become a Mage did not happen and this story took Kavi in a less anticipated direction towards her ultimate goal.

On the way, Kavi meets a wide variety of people who bring their own baggage and history, linked in both good and bad ways to Kavi’s. There are things she will find out that will not make sense to her and will shake her beliefs and what she thought she knew.

Kavi is a loner, an underdog and an outcast who has been treated abominably by society but she is determined in her search for her family. The learned helplessness and capitulation that the Taemu employ to survive is something else she needs to get her head around if she is to make any progress towards becoming a Mage, so her struggle is mental and physical. Years of being kind and not hurting anyone, the fear that if she does she will let out the inner berserker of her ancestors and not get able to control it is to the forefront of her mind and the biggest hurdle to her success.

Warning: The final third of the story is extremely violent and brutal. There are gladiator style confrontations, one on one combats, battles and a gruesome torture. If you liked Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, then you will like this. I am now waiting excitedly for the next part of Kavi’s story.

Thanks to the publishers, Gollancz, and @The_WriteReads for the ARC for me to read and review.

About the Author

Aman was born in Mysore, India. He grew up in Vizag, studied in Bangalore, lived in Bangkok, completed a PhD in experimental psychology at the University of Canterbury, and has settled (for now) in Melbourne, Australia. His writing draws from modern Indian history and is influenced by writers and artists like David Gemmell, Brandon Sanderson, Takehiko Inoue, and Kentaro Miura.

Silverskin by Caitee Cooper – A BBNYA Spotlight Post

On November 10, 2024November 9, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn AdultLeave a comment

The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.

Blurb

When Ellie Forth sets out to have a great Alaskan adventure with her remaining family members, she’s got something to prove—and not to them, but to herself. Four years after the unexpected death of her mother and sister, she’s ready to re-embrace her adventurous side.

Oliver Cole’s life, on the other hand, is very simple: go to work, catch fish, come home, and stash every penny earned into his bank account so he can afford to pay for college. But his life is turned upside down when Ellie and her brother—two nearly-forgotten acquaintances from his childhood—burst back into his life.

After a horrific encounter with the supernatural deep in the Kenai Peninsula, Ellie and Oliver must team up to discover the truth about what happened in Portlock, and how to fight a rising tide of evil that has the power to envelop not just Alaska, but the entire world.

A stunning debut, Silverskin is a blend of fantasy, suspense, and the supernatural. With Hallmark-meets-Hitchcock vibes, the adventure and slow-burn romance in this book will keep you up turning pages well past your bedtime. It features strong female and male leads, low-spice friends-to-lovers romance, found family themes, and more.

Book Details

Length: 445 Pages

Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary Fiction, Romance

Age Category: Adult

Date Published: September 15, 2023

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/cbPROqh (Canada) https://a.co/d/fki1iTn (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/5eOvX4O (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197148377-silverskin

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/e700280b-1407-4195-a47a-7583f49601d9

Or buy it from your local independent bookshop, which is my preferred option.

Author Bio

Caitee Cooper grew up in Laramie, Wyoming, where she enjoyed all things outdoorsy, musical, and bookish. She went to college at the University of Wyoming, where she earned a B.S in Psychology, and met her husband, Dallin. They went on to start several businesses and have many adventures. Caitee currently lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming with her husband, their two boys, and two half-feral barn cats.

Caitee can be found on Instagram @caiteecooper, on TikTok @caiteethewriter, on Facebook (Caitee Cooper – Author) and infrequently on X (@caitee_cooper).

About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner.

Orphan Planet by Rex Burke – A Spotlight Post

On November 6, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn AdultLeave a comment

The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.

Blurb

Book 1 in the ‘Odyssey Earth’ series – a feelgood SciFi space adventure .

With Earth in crisis, humans are travelling deep into space. But humanity’s future just took a wrong turn.

A seventeen-year colony-ship voyage – a straight shot to a new planet. Handpicked, single-minded crew, and a thousand settlers in hypersleep. No children, no families, no fuss.

That was the plan, anyway.

Captain Juno Washington commands a ship of loners and oddballs. The teenagers of the Odyssey Earth didn’t ask to be born, and face an uncertain future. And Jordan Booth really didn’t want to be woken up early.

After an unexpected change of course, relationships are tested like never before. If they listen to advice, pull together and stop squabbling, they might just make it.

Yeah, right. Good luck with that.

Book Details

Length: 332 Pages

Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery

Age Category: Adult

Date Published: December 4, 2023

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/ips4zdQ (Canada) https://a.co/d/2iiHHzn (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/2TK65B6 (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123022915-orphan-planet

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b60d2aa8-551b-45a6-b09f-f588f78339be

Or buy it from your local independent bookshop, which is my preferred option.

Author Bio

Rex Burke is a SciFi writer based in North Yorkshire, UK.

When he was young, he read every one of those yellow-jacketed Victor Gollancz hardbacks in his local library. That feeling of out-of-this-world amazement never left him – and keeps him company as he writes his own SciFi adventures.

When he’s not writing, he travels – one way or another, he’ll get to the stars, even if it’s just as stardust when his own story is done.

For a fantastic FREE prequel to the Odyssey Earth series (‘First Date’) not available anywhere else, sign up to his newsletter at http://subscribepage.io/GPiihl

About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner.

Terra Electrica by Antonia Maxwell – A Spotlight Post

On October 23, 2024October 20, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn Upper Key Stage 2+Leave a comment

I am shining a spotlight on the fabulous Terra Electrica by Antonia Maxwell, to celebrate its publication in the US on October 22 2024.

I really enjoyed reading this when it came out earlier this year in the UK and reviewed it here.

Book Info

Genre: Dystopian, Science & Nature, Environment

Age Category: Middle Grade

Page Count: 272 Pages

Publication Date: July 4, 2024 (October 22nd US)

Publisher: Neem Tree Press

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204929195-terra-electrica

StoryGraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/19fb6fe4-15c8-4cc3-a151-35e6fb0126b1

Amazon: https://a.co/d/0ekqkIpP (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/0dUDASJ3 (UK) https://a.co/d/0euPP4sr (Canada)

Or buy it from your local independent bookshop, which is my preferred option.

Blurb

Book 1 in an action-packed dystopian adventure series set in the near-future post-melt Arctic.

The last ice cap has melted, and the world is on the brink of collapse. A deadly force—Terra Electrica—has been unleashed. It feeds on electricity. It is infecting civilization.

In this chaotic, rapidly changing reality, 12-year-old Mani has lost her family and community to the Terra Electrica. Armed only with some ancestral wisdom and a powerful, ancient wooden mask she was never meant to inherit so soon, she suddenly finds herself responsible for the fate of the world.

Can Mani piece everything together and harness her newfound powers in time to save humanity?

About the Author

Antonia Maxwell is a writer and editor based in North Essex and Cambridge, UK. With a degree in Modern Languages and a long-standing career as a book editor, she has a lifelong curiosity for language and words, and a growing fascination in the power of story – the way it shapes our lives and frames our experience.

Please look out for other spotlights and reviews on this tour to celebrate the US release of Terra Electrica.

Inked by Rachel Rener – A BBNYA Spotlight Post

On October 22, 2024October 21, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn AdultLeave a comment

The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.

Blurb

When Zayn, your smoking hot boss, tells you never to touch the cache of deluxe tattoo ink locked away in his office, you listen to him… until the day you run out of your own ink, your squirming client is on the verge of peeing his pants, and your boss is nowhere to be found. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

I fully expected Zayn to yell at me when he returned to the shop. What I didn’t expect was the fresh cobra tattoo on my client’s butt magically springing to life. Or the interdimensional filing cabinet hiding in the back of Zayn’s office. And, oh, did I mention that my gorgeous, magic-ink-hoarding boss is actually an incubus?

Now – through (mostly) no fault of my own – we have to venture into a strange and distant land where a never-ending list of lethal flora, fauna, and fae await us. When you add in my Jewish mother’s string of poorly-timed, hysterical phone calls, there is one thing I’m grateful for: there’s no cell service in the fae realm.

Book Details

Length: 346 Pages

Genre: Women’s Fiction, Fantasy

Age Category: New Adult

Date Published: March 15, 2022

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/iIaIYpM (Canada) https://a.co/d/fzrG56w (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/ad3vXyi (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59963160-inked

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/fcc1be5f-b036-443e-ad11-41eb3ee3cddd

Or buy it from your local independent bookshop, which is my preferred option.

Author Bio

Rachel Rener is an award-winning, #1 bestselling romantasy author who loves blurring the line between science and magic.

She graduated from the University of Colorado after focusing on Psychology and Neuroscience. Since then, she has lived on three continents and has traveled to nearly 50 countries.

When she’s not writing or reading, Rachel enjoys art of all kinds, riding her motorcycle, going to rock shows (both musical and mineralogical), Vulcanology (the lava kind as well as the pointy-eared variety), and voicing Tana the Tiefling on the popular DnD podcast, Of Dice and Friends.

She lives in Colorado with her husband and a feisty umbrella cockatoo named Terrance (a.k.a “Jungle Chicken”) that hangs out on her shoulder as she writes – whether invited or not.

Find out more about Rachel and her books at:

www.RachelRener.com

@AuthorRachelRener across all socials

About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner.

Hermit of Paradise by Kim Sanders

On October 21, 2024October 20, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn Adult1 Comment

Blurb

Detective Auby Midnight is retired. Or so he imagines. Jaded and transformed by a long career of witnessing degeneracy, tragedy, and true evil, he reflects on the place that first nurtured him: Paradise Cove, Lake Texoma, and the rich, endearing memories of mischief, adventure, and friendship that shaped his childhood. That is, until the day a violent feud brought irrevocable trauma for his best friend, Sunny.

Now Sunny implores the wearied Auby to right the wrongs of the past and return to the case that has haunted him and his childhood friends for years. Older, wiser, and far more experienced, they set out to defeat the evil that stole their innocence and restore the magic of Paradise Cove.

Inspired by the author’s own life events as a sixth-generation Texan and a former member of the Dallas Police Department with decades of experience under his belt, Hermit of Paradise explores meaning, morality, and the fight to stay human in the face of a grim and complicated world.

Review

After reading the blurb, I had in my head how I thought this story would unfold…but I was wrong. Yes, there is some police procedure but as part of Auby’s backstory, rather than the main chunk of the tale, and that is no bad thing.

Overall, it is a story about Auby retiring from the police and finally facing up to what happened one summer when innocence was lost and a group of young teens is caught up in a feud between local family factions, underworld gambling, war veterans, and family ties that are either blood or bands of brothers.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of and the author does a superb job of creating fully formed characters and integrates their story arcs seamlessly.

I can get frustrated when information about the past is drip fed in a dual timeline narrative but in this case, Sanders does it pitch perfect. So much so, the sucker punch hits its target.

This story will sit with me for a long time to come.

Thanks to @The_WriteReads and Brown Books for the eARC to read and review for this blog tour.

Pax and the Forgotten Pincher by David Barker

On October 20, 2024October 19, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn Upper KS2+Leave a comment

This is the sequel to the excellent Pax and the Missing Head, which I read and reviewed here. I was happy to be asked by the publisher, Tiny Tree, to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb

Pax has made it through the trials of his first year at Scholastic Parliament, but any hopes of a quieter second year are quickly dashed when he makes a shocking discovery in the school’s basement. A new student joins the school, acting suspiciously and muscling in on Pax’s friendship with Samuel. At least being reigning champions in the Parliamentary Polls allows Pax and his friends to explore the city at weekends. But drone raids and cyber-attacks disrupt life in New London while a paranoid mayor cracks down hard on terrorism.

Unwittingly, Pax helps an innocent man get captured. Driven by guilt, he seeks out the Underground resistance movement and is given a mission to steal some codes from the mayor. In the process, Pax uncovers the shocking truth about a new factory that threatens the lives of millions of people. He is torn between stopping this latest sinister plot and focusing on schoolwork to keep alive his dream of becoming an engineer. To achieve both, he’ll need help. But who can he trust in a city full of falsehoods? What sacrifices will he need to make? Find out in the latest instalment in the London Falling series.

Review

In the first instalment of the London Falling series, we left Pax having completed his first year at Scholastic Parliament, having been guided by its AI to apply and follow his dream of becoming an engineer who fixes and invents technology.

Now, in his second year, having scuppered the Mayor’s fiendish plans, he stumbles across yet another discrepancy that he thinks points to the mayor being up to absolutely no good again. However he is reluctant to confide in his friends as he doesn’t trust the new boy and one of his close friends has also changed to another school house.

David Barker has continued to develop the superb Old London world building, bringing in more of London Town this time.

Filled with tension and worry, the action is almost non stop and Pax is back to planning escapades, using Roacher and Bee-Bop, his own robot creations, in order to uncover the Mayor’s dastardly schemes to control everyone. Again, themes of friendship, loyalty, betrayal, dictatorship and trust feature heavily.

This second book builds confidently on the first. The series is on an upward trajectory and I cannot wait for Pax’s third adventure.

All In by Russell Isler – A Spotlight Post

On October 10, 2024October 9, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn Grown Up NovelLeave a comment

The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.

I read the 10k excerpt and was willing All In to make the final. Even though it didn’t, I loved what I read and will be reading the full book.

Blurb

What dies in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Vampire playboy Eddy Fry has spent years living it up, so to speak, in Las Vegas. In all those decades, not once has he met another of his kind.

Until tonight.

Eddy learns that, not only are there other vampires out there, the one after him is older and much more powerful than he is. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she’s got a small army of supernatural creatures at her beck and call. In a flash, she’s muscled him out of the casino he calls home and left him with an offer he can’t refuse.

Out-gunned and out of his depth, Eddy will need to find his own allies, allies who know their way around this whacked-out supernatural world he’s been ignoring for so long. Otherwise, he might just see his first sunrise in years…

Book Details

Length: 396 Pages

Genre: Fantasy, Thriller

Age Category: Adult

Date Published: July 4, 2023

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/eQB1hWP (Canada) https://a.co/d/9w9Frbs (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/iV30Uf3 (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156774155-all-in

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/3f4d7b93-2146-4de9-8545-d896ee8041ce

I recommend contacting your local independent bookshop for a copy.

Author Bio

Russell Isler was born in Champaign, Illinois. As a child, his fate was sealed the evening his parents took him to see Star Wars. Practically obsessed with spaceships, robots and dragons for his entire life, he pursued a career in animation. After a couple decades jumping between the video game and commercial television VFX fields he stumbled into a new group of friends, who went on to create the award winning Adventures of the League of S.T.E.A.M. web-series. In addition to becoming head of VFX for the League, Russell also acted in several of the episodes. The League also gave him his first taste of writing. His writing on the series finale won “Best Screenplay” in the 2017 Dublin Web Festival. By then he realized that he’d had so much fun writing those screenplays that he should probably write down that book idea that had been living in the back of his head.

What is BBNYA?

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner.

Looking for Lucie by Amanda Addison – A Spotlight Post

On September 30, 2024September 30, 2024 By @f33lthesunIn Young AdultLeave a comment

I am shining a spotlight on the wonderful Looking for Lucie by Amanda Addison, to celebrate its publication in the US on October 1st 2024.

I really enjoyed reading this when it came out earlier this year in the UK and reviewed it here.

Book Info

Genre: Contemporary YA

Length: 272 pages

Published: April 2024 in UK and Oct 1st 2024 in US

Or buy it from your local independent bookshop, which is my preferred option.

Blurb

Looking for Lucie is a contemporary YA novel that explores identity, self-discovery, and newfound friendship as an 18-year-old girl sets out to uncover her ethnic heritage and family history.

It’s a question every brown girl in a white-washed town is familiar with, and one that Lucie has never been able to answer.

All she knows is that her mother is white, she’s never met her father, and she looks nothing like the rest of her family. She can’t even talk about it because everyone says it shouldn’t matter!

Well, it matters to Lucie and—with her new friend Nav, who knows exactly who he is—she’s determined to find some answers.

What do you do when you question your entire existence? You do a DNA test.

About the Author

Amanda Addison is an award-winning author of books for adults and children. Her writing has been translated into German, Greek, Italian and Ukrainian. Her picture book, Boundless Sky, was nominated for The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal, and her YA novel, Looking for Lucie, was listed for the Searchlight Writing Novel Opening Award. A graduate of Chelsea school of Art, her writing and artwork are inspired by travel, textiles, and the natural world. Amanda holds an MA in Writing the Visual and lectures in Art & Design and has also led workshops in Creative Writing at the National Centre for Writing. Amanda lives in Norfolk, UK, with her family.

Her writing includes flash fiction, short stories, picture books and novels. She explores themes of home and belonging, and enjoys using the juxtaposition of rural and city life. Her characters are often artists or scientists, as their curiosity about the world around them are two sides to the same coin, and the exploration of art and science can give us meaning and purpose in life with its infinite avenues of discovery. Amanda’s debut YA novel, Looking for Lucie, Neem Tree Press 2024, explores the above. It is a contemporary story of identity, self-discovery, and newfound friendship. Lucie, an 18-year-old art student sets out to uncover her ethnic heritage and family history with her new scientist friend Nav. Together they unravel family secrets.

Amanda believes in the power of stories as a window on the world, and a mirror to better see ourselves and is passionate about stories which are empowering and inclusive. When not writing she can be found swimming in the North Sea or running in the countryside, and that is when she gets some of her best ideas!

Please look out for other spotlights and reviews on this tour to celebrate the US release of Looking for Lucie.