Book Review: Once Stolen (The Treacherous Tides #1) – D.N. Bryn

On Jul 28, 2021Jul 28, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, IFA Summer Challenge 2021, LGBTQIA, Review, Self-Published, Self-Published Authors Appreciation WeekLeave a comment

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be reviewing Once Stolen by D.N. Bryn. A steampunk-inspired world? Mer-snake/Nagas? And that cover…? To be honest, I was sold on this book the moment the author reached out to see if I would like to review it – and they were kind enough to send me a physical copy. I’d heard of Our Bloody Pearl which is the author’s previous book in this world, although they can be read separately – and it is on the TBR – and the sample and premise was more than a little intriguing and I wasn’t disappointed!

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

No one with half a brain would rob the jungle’s most notorious energy cartel. The vibrations of their power-producing stones are the only thing that calms the mer-snake Cacao’s agonizing sensory condition though—and after being banished from his homeland swamps for similar thefts, he’s desperate.

When his attempt fails stunningly, a chaotic escape leaves him chained to a cartel prisoner: a self-proclaimed hero with a hidden stash of ignits so large, Cacao would never need to steal again. He’s determined to get his hands on it, even if it means guiding her home straight through the mist-laden and monster-filled swamp that exhaled him, with scheming poachers and a desperate cartel leader on their tail.

But the selfish and the self-righteous can only flee together for so long before something snaps…

Return to Our Bloody Pearl’s steampunk-inspired world of merfolk in this fun, fast-paced adventure with a hate-to-love romance, a boat-load of sass, and even more heart.

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Blog Tour (Book Review): Gunmetal Gods – Zamil Akhtar

On Jul 27, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, IFA Summer Challenge 2021, Review, Self-Published2 Comments

Hello!

Today is my stop on the blog tour for ‘Gunmetal Gods’ by Zamil Akhtar organised by Storytellers on Tour. This is the first book in the Gunmetal Gods series, and it is also a Semi-Finalist in SPFBO 7.

I hope that you will check out the book and the authors, and enjoy the rest of the tour with the schedule in the banner below or (HERE).

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

They took his daughter, so Micah comes to take their kingdom. Fifty thousand gun-toting paladins march behind him, all baptized in angel blood, thirsty to burn unbelievers.

Only the janissaries can stand against them. Their living legend, Kevah, once beheaded a magus amid a hail of ice daggers. But ever since his wife disappeared, he spends his days in a haze of hashish and poetry.

To save the kingdom, Kevah must conquer his grief and become the legend he once was. But Micah writes his own legend in blood, and his righteous conquest will stop at nothing.

When the gods choose sides, a legend will be etched upon the stars.

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Blog Tour (Book Review): The Headlock of Destiny (Titan Wars #1) – Samuel Gately

On Jun 10, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Review, Self-Published2 Comments

Hello!

Today is my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Headlock of Destiny’ by Samuel Gately organised by Storytellers on Tour, this is the first book in The Titan Wars series.

I hope that you will check out the book and the author, and enjoy the rest of the tour with the schedule in the banner below or (HERE).

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

Some say titans are descended from giants. Others say they are risen from men. But there’s never any debate about where to find them. They will be in the center of a roaring crowd, beating the hell out of each other. From contenders like the Savage and Scott Flawless to pretenders like Richard the Living Portrait and Troll-Blooded Thom, a titan’s lot in life is the same: To wrestle for dominion and glory in the squared circle.

Van, a quiet titan from the brewery town of Headwaters, wants no part in this. He’d prefer to be left alone with a beer. But destiny has him in a headlock, and it is prepared to drag him into battles that will shake the land and change his world forever.

Step into the ring with this one-of-a-kind novel, brewed special for fans of epic fantasy, fans of professional wrestling from the Golden Era and beyond, or simply fans of a good tale.

***

CW: Alcohol, Bullying, Physical Abuse, Poisoning, Police Brutality, Racism, Violence.

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Book Review: The Iron Crown (Dragon Spirits #1) – L.L. MacRae

On Jun 6, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Review, Self-Published1 Comment

Hello!

A belated review today as life (and a falling apart body) has got in the way the last couple of weeks. The Iron Crown by L.L. MacRae was released last week, and is the first book in a new trilogy called Dragon Spirits. It is also an entrant in this years SPFBO 7 competition! It was a pleasure to read this book, and a massive thank you to Lauren for the arc.

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

Fenn’s first and only memory is finding himself in the middle of a forest, face to face with a dragon spirit mocking him, all knowledge gone apart from his own name.

Lost and confused, his only hope for answers is Calidra—a woman living on the edge of the world with her partner. Forced to return home when her father dies, Calidra has put off facing her estranged mother for seven years, and she begrudgingly helps Fenn, forging papers for him so he can avoid the Queen’s Inquisitors.

But her mother is the least of her worries when they discover an ancient enemy is rising again. It should be impossible with the Iron Crown in power—and Fenn is terrified he might unwittingly be playing a part in the war’s resurgence.

Surrounded by vengeful spirits and powerful magic, Fenn’s desperate attempt to find his way home might well alter the fate of Tassar, and every power in it.

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Book Review: Little White Hands – Mark Cushen

On May 1, 2021May 5, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Childrens, Fantasy, Review, Self-Published, Wyrd & Wonder2 Comments

Hello!

Today I’m reviewing Little White Hands by Mark Cushen which is released today, so please do check out the book and support the author. This was such a lovely book to read, and it just so happens to perfectly to dovetail with the first prompt for the Wyrd & Wonder challenge: ‘We going on an adventure.’

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

Almost five hundred years have passed since the Seasons were at war.

Half a millennium since Winter defied Spring, and lost.

Generations have come and gone, not knowing the bitter freeze and howling snows of Winter ever existed.

But now, after centuries of silence, the participants in this ancient struggle have resurfaced and reignited their feud on the doorstep of an unassuming little kitchen boy.

Garlan’s dreams of being just like the knights he idolizes may not be as impossible as he has always been led to believe, when he is chased from his home and thrust headlong into the kind of adventure he had only ever read about in books.

Setting out on a journey that spans the entire kingdom of Faeland, Garlan will traverse impossible mountains and stormy seas and battle terrible monsters, all to keep the world he knows safe from an enemy who will stop at nothing to bring about a never-ending winter.

With a cast of fantastical characters to aid him in his quest, can Garlan overcome his self-doubt and find the courage he needs to rise above his humble station and become the hero he always dreamed of being?

The fate of the world rests in his hands.

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Book Blitz (Book Review & Extract): Windborn – Alex S. Bradshaw

On Apr 28, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Review, Self-Published1 Comment

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be helping out with the Storytellers on Tour Release Day Blitz for Windborn by Alex S. Bradshaw, as this dark Norse fantasy caught my attention from the moment I first heard about it. Beneath the review, you will find an extract and also the opportunity to win a copy of this fantastic book for yourself, so please check out the book and support the debut release!

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

Drowning is only the beginning…

Edda Gretasdottir is a raider, a fell-handed shield-maiden, feared along every coast. Hers is a life woven in battle scars.

But she never wanted to walk the warrior’s path. All she wanted was freedom, to earn enough gold to buy her family their own remote farm, and to escape their oppressive chieftain. Now, she has enough plunder so that she can finally hang up her shield and live in peace.

That peace is stolen from Edda, however, when raiders burn her home, destroy all that she loves, and toss her, wounded and bleeding, into the ravenous ocean.

But the fates are cruel and this is not the end for Edda: she rises from the bloody surf as a Windborn, a cursed warrior whose supernatural gifts are a poor exchange for everything she has lost.

Fuelled by rage and armed with strange new powers Edda will hunt for whoever sent the raiders, for whoever is responsible for taking everything from her. She will show them the sharp edge of her axe… or die trying.

Windborn is a dark, character-driven Norse fantasy packed with emotion, deadly foes, and vicious battles.

Get your copy of Windborn now to hear Edda’s epic tale!

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Blog Tour (Book Review): Bloodlines (The Guardian of Empire City #1) – Peter Hartog

On Apr 19, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Crime, Fantasy, Review, Sci-Fi, Self-Published5 Comments

Hello!

Today is my stop on the blog tour for ‘Bloodlines’ by Peter Hartog organised by Storytellers on Tour. There is also an International Giveaway at the end of this post where you have the chance to win a signed paperback of this fantastic book for yourself.

I hope that you will check out the book and the author, and enjoy the rest of the tour with the schedule in the banner below or (HERE).

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

When former hotshot homicide detective Tom “”Doc”” Holliday is recruited to join Special Crimes, he trades in his boring desk job for a second chance to do what he does best, hunt down killers. And his first case doesn’t disappoint: a murdered woman with a bogus past, her body drained of blood, and two eyewitnesses wasted on the designer drug goldjoy claiming a vampire did it.

For Holliday is no stranger to the unusual. He wields the Insight, a fickle clairvoyance that allows him to see the dark and terrible things that hide upon his world. After all, when you live in Empire City, where magic and technology co-exist, and humanity endures behind walls of stone and spell-forged steel, anything is possible.

Saddled with a team whose past is as checkered as his own, Holliday embarks upon an investigation that pits them against bio-engineered vampires, interdimensional parasites and the magical masterminds behind it all.

From nightclubs and skyscrapers, to underground drug labs and coffee shops, Holliday’s search for the truth will uncover a shadowy conspiracy that spans the ages, and forces him to confront a destiny he never wanted.

Bloodlines is Peter Hartog’s debut novel, the first in the Empire City Special Crimes series. Scroll up to order your copy, and start reading today!

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Blog Tour (Book Review): The Lore of Prometheus – Graham Austin-King

On Apr 14, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Review, Self-Published, Thriller3 Comments

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be reviewing The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King, the winner of the 2020 BBNYA Award. You can also find out more about the award, and being involved in the 2021 BBYNA at the bottom of the post.

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

John Carver has three rules: Don’t drink in the daytime, don’t gamble when the luck has gone, and don’t talk to the dead people who come to visit.

It has been almost five years since the incident in Kabul. Since the magic stirred within him and the stories began. Fleeing the army, running from the whispers, the guilt, and the fear he was losing his mind, Carver fell into addiction, dragging himself through life one day at a time.

Desperation has pulled him back to Afghanistan, back to the heat, the dust, and the truth he worked so hard to avoid. But there are others, obsessed with power and forbidden magics, who will stop at nothing to learn the truth of his gifts. Abducted and chained, Carver must break more than his own rules if he is to harness this power and survive

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Blog Tour (Book Review): Of Blood and Fire (The Bound and the Broken #1) – Ryan Cahill

On Mar 29, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Review, Self-Published2 Comments

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be reviewing Of Blood and Fire, the debut from Ryan Cahill and the first book in The Bound and the Broken series as part of the Love Books Tour.

*Disclaimer: ‘I was given a copy this book in exchange for an honest review, all views are my own.’*

Book Summary:

Born in fire. Tempered in blood.

Epheria is a land divided by war and mistrust. The High Lords of the south squabble and fight, only kept in check by the Dragonguard, traitors of a time long past, who serve the empire of the North.

In the remote villages of southern Epheria, still reeling from the tragic loss of his brother, Calen Bryer prepares for The Proving—a test of courage and skill that not all survive.

But when three strangers arrive in the village of Milltown, with a secret they are willing to die for, Calen’s world is ripped from under him and he is thrust headfirst into a war that has been raging for centuries.

There is no prophecy. His coming was not foretold.

He bleeds like any man, and bleed he will.

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Book Review: The Archive (The Maer Cycle #2) – Dan Fitzgerald

On Mar 26, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Indie, Review3 Comments

Hello!

I am back with the second part of my three-part special for The Maer Cycle by Dan Fitzgerald. You can find my review for book one ‘Hollow Road’ (Here) and the post for the third book, as well as a truly epic giveaway will be up shortly and all I can say is that you need to read this series asap!

Book Summary:

In Hollow Road (book 1), three companions discovered the monsters of legend were all too real…

Rumors among the Maer tell of an underground library called the Archive, which houses a wealth of knowledge and terrible magics that could be used to start the biggest war seen since the Great Betrayal. A mixed group of humans and Maer set off on an historic quest to find the Archive and protect it from those who would use it to destroy everything they hold dear. As the cold of winter bears down upon them, they trek through forbidding mountains beset by dangers they could have never imagined. They follow a set of ancient clues deep into the Silver Hills, forging surprising alliances and making new enemies.

The humans and Maer are linked by more than their quest to find the Archive and stop an insidious war. A mystical surrogacy may bridge the gap between two peoples, and many hearts entwine as their adventure hurtles toward its bloody conclusion.

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