April 23, 2017

I Wish I Were More Productive, but Beta-Reading Is Hard Work

Hi, you by-default wonderful people!
("By default" because anyone who stops by my blog and takes the time to read has to be nothing short of wonderful, of course 😉).
Life is busy as usual at the mo, but I've just added a couple of lovely chores to my list...I've been asked to beta read-again for Erin Callahan (her first solo work The Art of Escaping, which I'm proud to have perused in one of its early stages, is hitting the shelves next year!) and her buddy author Troy H. Gardner (the two of them penned the Mad World series, which hopefully will return with the last 3 installments soon!).

This is not Erin. Or Troy. They are actually very patient. But above all, I'm not a bearded guy

April 16, 2017

Michelle E. Reed: "Life After Dez" / "Missing in Atman" (Joint Review)

Title: Life After Dez [on Amazon | on Goodreads] / Missing in Atman [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Atman City (1st & 2nd of 3 books)
Author: Michelle E. Reed [Twitter | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife
Year: 2013-2014
Age: 12+
Stars: 2.5/5
Pros: Fresh spin on the afterlife trope. Teen POC adopted by white parents and in an interracial relationship. A side character gets an imaginative, interesting story.
Cons: The lead has a pattern of repeating the same mistakes and is cut a lot of slack regardless. Also, in Book 2, love triangle rears its head...
Will appeal to: Those who love stubborn heroines, romance and adventures in an afterlife context.

Blurb for Life After Dez: Bleeding to death on the side of a rural highway turns out to be the easiest part of Dez Donnelly’s unexpected Saturday. Swept away to Atman Station, the crossroads of the afterlife, Dez discovers her unprepared soul is trapped between worlds in a limbo existence where she’s given two choices: join the program or face the consequences. Her new reality is conduct manuals, propaganda, and unrelenting staff orchestrating a complex program designed to help transitional souls accept death and move on. To make matters worse, the beautiful and enticing Atman City - a stunning but dangerous metropolis that borders the outer boundaries of the station - is strictly off-limits to underage souls. Dez has to choose: go along to get along, or fight for the future she believed in. (Amazon excerpt)

Blurb for Missing in Atman: Dez is finally hitting her afterlife stride. She hasn’t missed a meeting or session in forty-two days, and she’s put the adventures and danger of her first days at Atman behind her. Life after death is becoming tolerable, yet nothing is quite what she’d hoped. In a missed encounter with Crosby, her prying gaze lands upon a single entry in the datebook on his unoccupied desk. These few, hastily scribbled words reveal an enormous secret he’s keeping from her. Possessed by a painful sense of betrayal, she once again sneaks off to Atman City, determined to find answers to an unresolved piece of her life. It begins as all their adventures do, but a stop in an unfamiliar neighborhood sets forth a chaotic series of events. Dez will have to fight for her very existence, and will face painful, irreparable loss in an afterlife teeming with demons wielding ancient powers. (Amazon excerpt) 

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received these books from the author after approaching her on Twitter with a couple of questions about Book 3 and the series re-release (Reed put forth the new edition of Book 1 & 2 by herself, and is working on the final installment in the trilogy). She volunteered to send me Life After Dez and Missing in Atman in exchange for an honest review. That didn't affect my opinion and rating in any way. Please note: as a rule, I review all books in a series separately - except in particular instances. Since I got these two together, and most of what I had to say applied to both, I made an exception here. I hope it doesn't inconvenience you in any way.

April 12, 2017

EXCLUSIVE Cover Reveal (+ Blurb): "Deadgirl: Goneward" by B.C. Johnson

Welcome to a very special cover + blurb reveal...

Big tease, I know 😉

You know, as a rule, I don't do reveals. Well, I don't do mass reveals, or reveals for books that I'm not interested in. But this is one of my favourite series ever, so it gets the spotlight, and for free too. Heck, I would even pay for doing it myself. Or maybe not really...but you get the idea 😉.
I believe you heard me raving about Deadgirl and Deadgirl: Ghostlight once or twice. (Oh, but in case you are from another planet or simply new to my blog, don't worry...I'll recap 😀). The one below is the third installment in the Deadgirl four-book series, titled Deadgirl: Goneward. It involves four friends, a road trip and a lot of paranormal mischief. Because you know, main character = dead girl. PHANTOM girl - which is different from ghost girl, in case you're wondering. Lucy Day is something you have never seen in YA. You'd better take my word - I'm the expert in dead-undead characters, as this page testifies 😂.
So, here goes...