Servant of the Crown
Alison Quinn has known her share of disappointments. Being rich, a countess, and beautiful means men only see her for what she can give them, and not for the talented woman she is. But who needs a man when she has an estate to run and works as an editor at her father’s printing business? Certainly she doesn’t need to work, but her passion for books and the printed word outweighs a life of leisure.
However, being a countess obligates her to the request of the Queen, and she is summoned for a six-month stint as a companion to the Dowager. Now Alison finds herself living the very life she was trying to avoid: dressing in gowns, embroidering, attending musical events, and even dancing at the occasional party. Dating a man is one thing, but that doesn’t mean Alison can’t enjoy a good dance. And who should ask her but the Crown Prince Anthony, who is definitely handsome…but also a notorious rake, whose unsavory comments cause a very public altercation. The Queen forces them to be seen together to prevent court gossip. But, surprisingly, Alison begins to think that Anthony may be the one to prove her wrong, and that all men aren’t the same.
One would think that’s where the story ends. But one would be wrong.
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The Architect of Aeons
It’s been a while since I sat down here and wrote a review, so you can expect a small deluge from me in the near future. I’m a huge fan of space opera in all genres and forms. I don’t know a lot about John C. Wright, but receiving THE ARCHITECT OF AEONS excited me, and made me want to read this. I’ve never read any Wright, so I was ready to experience a new to me author.
Prisoner 489
From Dark Regions Press, we have a great novella from one of my favorite authors, Joe Lansdale. PRISONER 489 (Amazon) is short, sweet, and a terrific read. While I simply adore Lansdale’s Westerns, I’m an even bigger fan of his writing.
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The Slow Regard of Silent Things
THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS (Amazon) is not exactly a title that reaches out and grabs you. No? I mean, when was the last time you actually saw the word “slow” in the title of a book? Okay, there was SLOW APOCALYPSE (EBR Review) — not my favorite. Or there was also SLOW BULLETS (EBR Review) — not half bad. Or “silent” for that matter? Hmm. THE SILENT LAND (EBR Review). Maybe this is turning out to not be the best analogy…) Let alone both in the same title? Hah! I don’t know of any others.
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Maplecroft: The Borden Dispatches
Lizzie Borden is the town pariah of Fall River because she’s suspected of hacking her father and stepmother to death with an axe. Certainly she was acquitted at trial, but there’s more to the story than anyone knows. Well… her sister Emma knows, but she’s not telling. And together with their inheritance from their father, they buy a house outside of town, name it Maplecroft, and begin to research in privacy to discover what really happened.
Cherie Priest takes the original Lizzie Borden story (Wikipedia) and presents to us a alternate explanation of their parents’ deaths. What if the illness the Bordens experienced wasn’t simple food poisoning? What if it were something much more sinister? What if it were related to their deaths?
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Self-Published Blog-Off Update
All right. People have been wondering where we are in the process so far. While we haven’t picked our Finalist yet, we are very close. This will be a quick summary of who we have eliminated so far. We aren’t going to get into specifics on each book, because it seems bad form to to lay it out publicly why we didn’t care for your book. I think we’ve been pretty clear about the main issues we’ve had in our posts on PoV, Beginnings, Internet Presence, and First Impressions.
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Wolfsbane
After the gripping events of book 2, BLOODSTONE (EBR Review), it’s now fifteen years later and Seth is the dun captain–a responsibility he never expected, knowing his brother Conal would inherit. Now Conal is gone, but Seth has his son Rory, whose ability to manipulate the Viel–the barrier between the Sithe world and the human world–makes him the prophesied Bloodstone, and the very person Queen Kate NicNiven wants for her own purposes.
Unfortunately teenagers will chafe under restrictions, even knowing it’s best for their well being. When Rory sneaks into the mortal world and discovers Hannah, half-Sithe, half-mortal, he brings her back to the dun.
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Child of a Hidden Sea
Sophie is determined to find her birth parents. But when she finds her mother, there isn’t the grand reunion she was hoping for. Not ready to give up yet, Sophie happens across her aunt being attacked in a San Francisco alleyway and rushes to intervene.
The next second she finds herself in the middle of an ocean surrounded by glowing moths, along with her aunt, who has been stabbed, with only Sophie to save her.
Sophie does save her aunt, but unknowingly sets off a chain of events that disrupt the lives of the people who surround her.
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Giveaway: The Devil’s Only Friend
Updated 6/22/15: Ian A from Utah is our winner. Congratulations! Your book will be on its way soon.
You loved John Cleaver in I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER , MR MONSTER , and I DON’T WANT TO KILL YOU . Now Dan Wells brings back our favorite demon-hunting sociopath in THE DEVIL’S ONLY FRIEND , releasing June 16th.
The publisher (Tor) has provided us a copy of this book to give away to one of our lucky readers. To enter this giveaway:
1. Email us at elitistbookreviews@gmail.com
2. Include the following on the subject line: Dan Wells Giveaway
3. In the body of the email include your name and mailing address.
Giveaway rules can be found here. Entries will be accepted until midnight of June 21st and the winner will be posted on the 22nd.
Don’t miss our review of the book to be posted this week, as well as a guest post from Dan Wells himself.
Guest Post: Dan Wells
Dan Wells. You all know how much we love Dan around here. He’s been a great friend to Elitist Book Reviews, and he writes incredible novels. To cap off this week of all things Dan Wells–in celebration of the release of his new novel, THE DEVIL’S ONLY FRIEND (Amazon)–we leave you with a guest post from our good friend, and one of our favorite authors.
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As you may have heard, because I talk about it ALL THE TIME, the first book in my John Cleaver series I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER (EBR Review) is being made into a movie. It stars, Max Records, Laura Fraser, and Christopher Lloyd, and I’m super excited about it, and it’s going to be awesome–in festivals next year, and theaters soon after. I had the chance to spend about a week and a half on set with the cast and crew earlier this year, and it was great to meet them all and see their vision for the film and share their excitement for the story and the characters. But then I realized something: now that I’d met those characters, how could I continue to do such horrible things to them?
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