Monday 12 December 2011

Keizara Part One: Dean – XchylerComn


Keizara a world ruled by gods and managed with magic. A place where the people live as one with the world around them, wouldn’t seem like a bad place to get thrown into right? Well that’s what Emmett, Courtney, and Mac thought as well. Their parents sent their three children into their home land to get help, BUT they will soon find what they need cannot be given. What they need must be earned through years of tradition, and practice.



I really enjoyed reading Keizara Part one.

Everything in Keizara is based on tradition and practice and it really got me wanting to know more about the place and how their traditions are kept alive and how they are still practised.


Even though it is short so much happens and I felt it was enough to get the reader wanting to read more about the three children; Emmet, Courtney and Mac as well as the mystical place their parents sent them to; Keizara.

Not only do we meet Emmett, Courtney and Mac we also meet Dean who is the teller of Tomorrow and Sylver who is the keeper of Stories. I found Sylver to be an intriguing person as History and stories is something I love and he really appealed to me as he is the one who knows the history of Kiezara.

Keizara Part Two: Nimala should be another great read, one I am looking forward to reading. It will take us to meet more exciting people from the history of Keizara and hopefully we will learn more about the traditions and practises of Keizara.



4/5




Gerard: Le Garçon Vampire – G. M. Frazier



$2.99

Diagnosed with cancer, and lured by the sales pitch of an online “vampire hunter,” Jack Trask has spent a fortune travelling around the world in search of the one being he feels can save him from a death sentence. Now, in the ruins of "Ransom," a plantation outside of New Orleans, Jack comes face to face with the creature he has been seeking for nearly a year. And it's not what he was expecting



What a mouth watering short story.

I really enjoyed this story about Gerard. Gerard is not a typical vampire; he’s just a ten year old boy vampire.

I was so entranced by Gerard’s story. I was so amazed at how young he was and yet he was so beautiful. He came from a well off family, but without his friend Phillip life was nothing.

He is a lone vampire one the Jack Trask really felt for. There was a connection with them from the start. Gerard started playing games but then he realized that Jack wanted to know more about him and how he ended up as a vampire.

How Gerard ended up as a vampire is still a mystery and I really like that.



Frazier has written a wonderful story, one that is told from a different angle, one that is quite compelling.

The news experts at the end were a great way to finish off. It made the story Gerard finish but another mystery began. The mystery of Jack had begun, why did he just disappear? Why, when he was dying did he jump on a plane and head for New Orleans? Those questions remain unanswered in the story but we as readers know his side.



5/5

Nanna’s Storm – author = Vicki Griffin, illustrations = Vicky Duncan


A funny story about a mischievous Nanna who relives with her grand-daughters the good times she had when their mother was young.

No matter what their age, grown-ups can still have a wicked sense of humour.



Writer – Vicki Griffin

Although brought up in Sydney as a white person, Vicki Griffin discovered her Indigenous

Heritage in the early 1990’s with her mob coming from the Shoalhaven area – Darawal tribe to the South Coast of New South Wales. This inspired her to investigate her cultural and artistic talents and she began writing and painting.

Now her art hangs not only in local schools and daycare centres in the Brisbane area but also in Japan.

Discovering more of her talents in the realm of writing she enrolled at the University of New England and in 2006 completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Communication.

Vicki Griffin is married with four children and lives in Queensland. In 2001 she became a guardian of a Torres Strait Islander child and is leading him into his culture.



Illustrator – Vicky Duncan

Vicky Duncan grew up around Inverell in Northern NSW, Kamilaroi country, where she learned about her culture and language from her father. She has done art since a teenager.

In her early career she taught art at local schools and the South Inverell Linking Together Centre and sold her work at markets.

Vicky now works with cultural and environmental land care volunteers and as an Aboriginal advisory to the Borders River Gwydir CMA but still enjoys doing art.

The illustrations in this book are done in acrylic on paper, but Vicky also enjoys using ochres, fibres, wood and emu eggs, and designing dream catchers, tattoos and cartoons.



This story is aimed at aboriginal children, but I believe every child should have the opportunity to read this wonderful story no matter their background.



I was approached by the author Vicki to review this book a while ago. I glad to accept and review Nanna’s Storm.



Nanna’s Storm is a wonderful book. It did take me a second reading to get how the story worked but my fiancé read it once and got the idea first go (I must have been having a slow day when I first read it lol).



I found Nanna’s Storm an enjoyable read. It is beautifully illustrated by Vicky Duncan and the illustrations tell the story really well.



My fiancé and I look forward to reading this to our future children.



4/5

Mammon – J.B. Thomas





Forget anything you ever heard about exorcisms and pentagrams. The modern demon is far more difficult to catch and even harder to destroy...



After the savage deaths of their parents, Grace and Joe Callahan learn they are descendants of the Sarsareh – mercenaries who hunt very special prey. Grace and Joe take their place in the Order but are treated with hostility and fear by other recruits.

For the Callahan siblings have powers that fascinate and terrify.

Joe is a Ferryman, capable of opening dimensional rifts, while Grace’s telepathic abilities surpass anything the Order has ever seen.

But none of that will matter if the powerful demon Mammon manages to convince Joe to open a gateway to his demon world and overrun Earth with his armies.

If he succeeds: game over.



Mammon is an AWESOME first novel for J.B Thomas. It is also the first part of the Ferryman Chronicles.

There is action, love and demons throughout.

It’s on of the best books I have read this year.

Mammon is divided into three parts. Part one being where we first met Joe, who is a ferryman and his sister Grace who is telepathic. This part is all about Joe and Grace and about them learning of their abilities. Their parents really concerned for their safety and in protecting their children they are brutally killed.

In part two the children’s aunt Dianna takes her niece and nephew to Renfield where they are given time grieve for their parents. Joe and Grace are shown around Renfield and are told that their parents were once part of the Sarsareh. After their tour of the place they begin their training as mercenaries, but not without some distrust from the other mercenaries.

Joe wants to seek revenge for the death of his parents and in doing so seeks out another way to get his revenge.

The final part of Mammon is where the training is finished and they set out to bring down Mammon. There is much action throughout this part and both Joe and Grace have to use their newly trained skills to stop Mammon from opening a rift to bring his demon army into the world.

My relationship throughout was that of Grace and Ivan. Their relationship seemed to start on shaky grounds and every time Grace seemed to do something wrong it seemed as though Ivan didn’t really like her.

From the very beginning, when Grace meets Ivan I could tell she was head over heals for him. Ivan on the other hand was very focused on training his people and he showed little emotion. Eventually Ivan showed his true feelings for Grace and their relationship started to change.

For me the best part about this relationship was once they had established a love relationship when working together Ivan didn’t give Grace any special attention. He kept things focused and on the mission and not on his feelings for Grace. I found this a very important thing as he is Grace’s leader and if he let his feelings get in the way their working relationship would have to be separated.



I am very grateful for the opportunity to be able to review this amazing book. I would like to thank Dorothy Tonkin from Random House Australia for giving me opportunity.



5/5


Friday 9 December 2011

Tangled Bloodlines – Deborah Noel

 BLURB

She grew up in twentieth century Pennsylvania countryside knowing she possesses superhuman powers from her “Irish pixie” bloodlines. She had retired after a particularly tough case where the victim was her husband’s twin brother. After her brief respite from murders and homicides, Cianna witnesses a killing where the murderer is a vampire. Her daughter goes missing soon after the killing. Cianna and the love she had once pushed out of her life, her estranged husband Declan, travel halfway around the world to try to save their child.

As the mystery unravels, she learns that although she is a half-breed, the other half isn’t “Irish pixie” as she grew up believing - weaving her into a more tangled history and frightening future than she had bargained for.



I was so excited when Deborah approached me to review her book Tangled Blood Lines. I found it a great read once I got into it. It took me a while, but it was worth while taking the time to read.

My initial thoughts to begin with was that this book was all about solving murder cases. As I read past the first few chapters I realised there was more to this story than solving murders.

There is a major supernatural element that really intrigued me. I have a love for magic and reading this story with the supernatural really caught my attention

When Shane and his girlfriend Brae capture two tracker vampires I found the story become more interesting and I found a new level to the story. There was something different about these vampires, as once they were caught and put behind silver bars and started revealing their purpose I became more interested in them.



There were three main relationships in Tangled Blood Lines. There was the relationship between Cianna and Declan, Cianna, Declan and Mattie and the relationship uncle Sam, Cianna and Declan. Telepathy was a strong connection with these relationships as well as the family bond and that of love. All three relationships stood out to me the most because of the way they all interacted with each other. Their connection/bond was so strong. I really could understand how Cianna felt for her husband Declan. Their love was so strong and so very beautiful.



After reading Tangled Blood Lines, I was left with many unanswered questions. I want to know more about the Vampires and Cianna’s history. I also want to know what happens when Mattie is found.



 This is such a fantastic read, I hope to read more books from Deborah in the near future.

If you love the supernatural you will love this book.

4/5

LINKS:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11699390-tangled-blood-lines

http://deborahnoel.wordpress.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Tangled-Blood-Lines-ebook/dp/B005C54FRM/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1310461450&sr=8-11

http://vamptasy-publishing.webeden.co.uk/#/tangled-blood-lines/4552723170