Reviews by Vanessa

Captured as a slave while a child, Laura escapes and finds a new life in the home of a mountain healer and midwife. Clever and industrious, Laura learns her new profession so well that her adoptive mother, Crescia, sends her to Solerno’s famed medical school so she can become a physician and bring her worldly learning back to the midwife’s humble cottage.
Read the rest of this review »

So two award-winning journalists decide to try their hand at the current craze of YA dystopian/post-apocalypse novels. But WASTELAND by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan (Amazon), is what happens when non-fiction writers think that writing a coherent, engaging, and imaginative YA novel is not so hard. Throw in a controversial situation, maybe some race-themed antagonism, a couple of clever adjectives for spice, and voila. Easy peasy, right?
Read the rest of this review »

So pretty much everything I said about AN OFFICER’S DUTY (EBR Review) I should just cut and paste into this review… because its sequel HELLFIRE (Amazon) is almost the exact same book. Save yourself some time, read that review, and come back and I’ll try to be succinct.
Read the rest of this review »

I found A SHADE OF VAMPIRE (Amazon) thanks to Amazon recommendations, it had over 600 five-star ratings, and it was a mere $0.99 for Kindle. I was kinda excited to find something new.

It was a trap.
Read the rest of this review »

Seth MacGregor is Sithe, and lives in their realm beyond the Veil, apart from full-mortals. Abandoned by his witch mother, he lives in his father’s clan as an outsider, unruly and wild. He idolizes his older brother, Conal, who will inherit their father’s captaincy of their dun/village.
Read the rest of this review »

I made the mistake of starting AN OFFICER’S DUTY (Amazon) before reading the book that came before: A SOLDIER’S DUTY (Amazon). I was completely lost and from what I read, the PoV character Ia was an insufferable know-it-all so I stopped. It reminded me too much of the annoying Kris Longknife books, only with more infodumps. As a result I wasn’t interested, but with Steve’s prodding I tried again–from the beginning this time.
Read the rest of this review »

After the disappointment of the so-so TONGUES OF SERPENTS (EBR Review), it was a relief to see Naomi Novik back in form with CRUCIBLE OF GOLD (Amazon). I’m beginning to see the longer-range purpose of Novik’s series, and with several exciting scenes and more serious characterization, I have hope for the future.
Read the rest of this review »

The father has gone to the corner store to get milk for breakfast. Unfortunately, while he’s there he runs into a little trouble that keeps him from returning home in a timely fashion: the delay involves a time-traveling stegosaurus, pirates, aliens, and wumpires. It’s a miracle he even gets home.  When he tells his kids the story for some reason they’re a bit skeptical.
Read the rest of this review »

In SILVER (EBR review), we were introduced to the werewolves Andrew and Silver. Now that they’ve recovered from their injuries, they’re beginning to think about the future. Unfortunately, the future doesn’t always go according to plan.
Read the rest of this review »

THE FICTIONAL MAN (Amazon) by Al Ewing was not an easy book to read. The main character Niles Golan is a jerk. He’s spent his entire life in denial of his own faults (of which there are many) and now that he’s alone and miserable he’s finally beginning to understand why.
Read the rest of this review »