The Four Baristas of the Apocalypse by Geoff Blackwell

     Four coffee shop owners, and friends, took a camping trip into the woods. During this trip there was what appeared to be a meteor shower, instead coming face to face with an alien that definitely did not come in peace. Armed only with a hologram who promises to make them weapons or they can either submit to the fate of the rest of the world. What real choice do they have? 

    I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Yet another post-apocalyptic to add to my list. No complaints there, however. It will forever be one of my favorite genres. This book was highly amusing and I genuinely hope I get to read the next one! 

    The hologram does a lot of growing in this book as he has some sentience and was merged with human idealisms to create what he is. Although describing the end result would be difficult to say to least. That being said he was a good companion character while he lasted in the book. War-ship AI are nothing to mess around with. Not saying anything happens one way or the other though. 

    The main characters are great. They are all best friends, two sets of couples, own a coffee shop together, and have very vast personalities. Much like in a normal group of friends you see a lot of different people that compliment each other well. I have to say that I won't be missing the neon pink suit now that the book is over. You'll see what I mean. 

    I enjoyed the 99% rule and the fact that the invading aliens had a Neapolitan complex. A lot of this book was utterly ridiculous, but would still be terrifying if it actually happened. While the main points of this book were resolved (i.e. Earth being invaded by aliens who needed cheaper hats and platform boots) there is still more to discover with this series. 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $ 5.31 by clicking here. 

Aestus by S. Z. Attwell (The City Book 1)

      When the surface of Earth became uninhabitable the Founders determined a new way to survive. They carved a city deep into the underground and have eked out a life there for the last few centuries. While the surface is still too hot for anyone to be on it during the day without a carefully rationed supply of water at night they must be even more careful. Due to radiation what were once human have evolved into something now known as the Onlar. Little more than beasts that strike with claws and glowing green eyes. Sometimes all that are found of those that go missing are bones. However, there may be more to this story than meets the eye when Engineer Jossey is captured by the Onlar. 

     I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I love post apocalyptic books. They easily rank in my top favorites and this one did not disappoint. I love books where the biggest threat is more a scooby doo than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, there are many many real threats in this book. And I won’t for a second give away who the bad guy or girl is. Still I wanted to say that. 

     Moving on. There seems to be a budding love triangle here. Not the way you may be thinking. Gavin obviously has feelings for Jossey. Jossey sort of has feelings for Gavin, but has never allowed herself to feel anything for him due to personal past they share which you will read about. Then there is Casper who obviously has a thing for Jossey and Jossey likes him, but I don’t know that she feels the same anymore. Hell I wouldn’t after that stunt. Again, not going into it. You’ll see. Second to last chapter of the book. 

    This book absolutely leaves a lot up in the air and I would read the next book in the series if requested to do so. It was an intriguing and fun book that had a lot of action and a bit of romance. Not the sexy sexy kind, but that is okay. I don’t think the sexy sexy kind would have fit into this book at this point anyways. Possibly in book two. We shall see. 

     This book is available on Amazon for $0.99 by clicking here. 

The Aule Straatagem: Part One- Slave Ship by David Clegg

      Within the Aule sector of space pirates have been taking Confederate allied forces and destroying the ships. The Confederate Navy ship, the Aurora, has been tasked with reigning in these pirates and locating the corruption of the local sector. Once Captain Lewis and her crew arrive they find that the local head also believes that there is a mole getting inside information out to the pirates. But, can these pirates be a front for a much bigger threat coming to the Confederacy?

     I received a copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review. This book gave me a lot of Star Wars vibes. I don’t know if it was due to how the Empire acted, the fact they were called the empire in the first place, or because all I could think about when they were plotting was the Empire striking back. The force is not in this book, however, there are plenty of weapons. Think regular war-time naval guns, severely amped up (of course this is set far in the future). Not that I am in any way complaining about that. I love pirate battles as you’ve seen with On These Black Sands and Jubilant. 

     This book does take a bit to actually get into, but once it picks up it is nonstop action. It goes from a slow burn in space to fight after fight. We see the corruption and are even able to get an idea of what is going on on the slave ships and on the Naval ship. I enjoyed the change in perspective there. This book goes end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but that is to be expected considering this is book one in a series. 

    That being said, the book wasn't nearly as boring, for me, as Star Wars was. The piracy helped quite a bit on that front thankfully. If requested I would be willing to read additional books by this author and in this series. 

     This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $3.69 by clicking here. 

Books by this author: 

The Aule Straatagem: Aurora (The Aule Straatagem Book 2)

Call Numbers by Syntell Smith (The Not So Quiet Life of Librarians Book 1)

 

    Recently transferred from the Fort Washington branch Robin Walker is a part time college student part time New York Public Library clerk. Although the transfer is new the employees of this branch are not thrilled to have him and are intent to see him out. Be it one library head intent on having her own page promoted to full time clerk position due to a delicate situation or the other head librarian's desire to keep "bending" the rules for his desired patrons. Can this one employee make such a difference? 

    I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Just based on the name on the book this title has been staring me down from my TBR needing me to jump it to the top of my list since I first got it. However, I let it wait on it's turn and I was not disappointed by this book. Set in the 90s you have a throw-back book with plenty of racism issues confronted. 

    I will say I have no idea what body type the main character, Robin has. He is often described as chubby and fat by Alex in the book, however, he is also described as quick enough to outrun the police and a girl running her hands across his abs in the club. So, I have no idea what his body type is. I know his skin tone because it bothers him so much and I know about his hand, but otherwise not so much. 

    The book ends on a bittersweet note and I would absolutely read more by this author in the future. While the main issue of if Robin will be forced out of the new branch satisfied there are a lot of other issues within this book that have no resolutions. 

    The fact that the page, Lakesia, 14, who has a crush on Robin, 21, is very cringy. I hope he handled it completely and that doesn't develop because that is pretty gross as is. If she was of consent age it wouldn't bother me as much, but she is a kid and just no. 

    This book is available on Amazon for $0.99 by clicking here. 

Brian, Created Intelligence by AJ Pagan IV

     Able to grow/create every organ for the human body for replacement as needed except one. The one that has never been done is the human brain, but what is stopping us? Intent on further studying the human brain and how it interfaces with AI a specially crafted team of scientists have done just that. 5 years later Brian is a thinking and feeling being, but does he know what he is? When the AI interface section of the government steps in after the alleged death of 3 workers in Madagascar Brian becomes a tool to be used. Is he legitimate or is there something more in the works?

    I received a copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review. Ethics aside this book was great. We have Ellie who is a young, full of herself loud-mouth who probably should have been fired from Dipol a million times during this book. Then there is the psychologist who didn't want to be there from the start and the psychotic Agent Jonathan Volt who wants to weaponize what he believes to be an AI and use it to take over other locations. It is definitely an odd collection of characters. 

    That being said the characters meld well together and I enjoyed the storyline. Although I thought for a while that something was going to somehow develop between a bodiless brain and Ellie I am glad with how that aspect of the book ended. I do wonder what will be done with the information that the team had at the end as well what Volt had. I am trying not to give too many details. The book was very intriguing, though although it did get a bit bogged down in the science aspects versus the story aspects sometimes. 

    This story jumped perspectives a lot, which is something I appreciated. I don't think we would have had a good a grasp of the book without seeing it from each person's (or brains) perspective. Seeing how they were thinking or feeling in that moment. It allowed for a deeper insight without sharing too much that the author isn't ready to share yet. 

    This book is available on Amazon for $0.99, temporarily, by clicking here. 

Destroyers Soul Book 3 by Calia Wilde (Destroyers MC Book 3)

     Mary has caught Walt's eye since the moment he walked into the strip club, but she is off limits. Her brother's kids are mixed and his club are a bunch of racist assholes. She could never be with someone with a flag on their back and he couldn't blame her for that. Yet, he also couldn't leave. What would be do without that part of his life? Without his brothers? Finding out his place in this world may be the hardest hurdle Disney has ever faced, but Mary's brush with death is a wake-up call. 

    I received a copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review. I've been reading this series and have been trying to pace myself. I feel like I am doing a pretty good job of that since I have been reading about one book a month in the series. 

    I loved Disney in the other books and figured his book would be coming up soon and it did not disappoint. Although, based on the other books we already knew who he would be with and that they were pretty established and even the turning point we didn't know the little ins and outs of their relationship that we learned in this book. Such as the racism aspect. Racism is still unfortunately very predominate in a lot of clubs so the fact that this was faced by a member was valid. 

    Terrible as it may seem I'm kinda glad what happened to Bubba. He couldn't be trusted and that is the way of things. Besides, his wife deserved better. I really hope the next book I pick up in the series is Snake, but I don't know that it will be. Fingers crossed I get the troubled bookworm! 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $3.99 by clicking here. 

Books by this author: 

Down in Blood (Destroyers MC 1)

Dreams in the Dark (Destroyers MC 2)

Truth as Poison (Destroyers MC 4)

Pulau Malika by Craig Herdern (Kalacite Chronicles Book 1)

         After all of Constance's family suddenly dies she decides to make the most of her remaining years and buy the island she and her late husband always talked about. However, she soon finds herself in the middle of an interstellar war complete with time travel. Armed with this second chance she is certain she can save her family, but fate is fickle and she doesn't get what she wants. Still, the aliens aren't going anywhere and some are more trustworthy than others. The Kalacite has the unique abilities, in just the right situation, to allow for time travel, something the Slembai, the race of aliens who have carefully cultivated the current universal order, have been unable to achieve. 

    I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I enjoy sci-fi books as I'm sure you have noticed if you've been around this site for any length of time. I feel like I would have enjoyed this book more if the names of everything weren't so excessive. It became a pain to keep track of which was what and who was who. 

    I liked the little bit of a surprise at the end regarding Constance. I don't know that I would want to continue this series. I feel like I am okay with where this ended. I know if it book one and there is enough loose ends that if you were drawn into the book you could be excited for the rest of the books. Personally, I'm just not. I'm content with how things ended with Constance and Heini. I will state that there is a glossary in the book to help keep track of things. At the end. But, in an eBook that isn't very useful in my opinion. In a physical book, sure, I could flip back and forth. Some people may not have the same struggle, just sharing my experience. 

    I did like how descriptive the islands were and that Constance was able to go back in time at one point instead of just the aliens being able to go back. It made for an interesting reading segment. Also the fact that every time Evelyn made a change in the timeline her kids changed was an amusing side point to me. There were also dinosaurs at one point. Which is always a bonus to any present or future time period book. 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $2.99 by clicking here. 

Candle Children by Michael Baker

 

    Spirits are real and the Candle Children know it. The Candle Children are mostly Orkbloods who roam the streets working and living the lives they can while informing as many people as possible, thorough performances, of the Spirits. Every Spirit has a song or songs tied to them and while the orphan Bluejay knows how to fight spirits when the need arises his foe this time is much greater. The Empower has tasked his mercenaries with tracking down and killing every orkblood within the kingdom silently and quickly. Adults are done in pits near their villages while the children are taken to an island and left to starve. Can the children overcome the empower and save themselves? Will the Spirits help their cause? 

    I received a copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written, the characters are intriguing, and each spirit has their own personality and role to play. It is easy to keep everyone separate in your mind without overlap, which is sometimes a difficult task when there are as many characters introduced as this author has done, so great job there. 

    I can't say I love the killing of kids, having kids of my own, but this book was about kids trying to stop adults from killing kids so I can't really say too much. Plus, it didn't go into too many details about their dead bodies. Adult dead bodies don't matter and there are some graphic scenes containing those. 

    I don't have any complaints about this book that I wasn't prepared to happen going into it, which is a welcome relief. There is some poly-theism. which I am never against. Including "The Ice" that kills any who are out without a holy candle in the night. Pretty dark, twisted, and I love it. There are multiple dimensions mentioned in passing which is where some of the spirits some from, including our very own Bloody Mary. 

    A book I would suggest and I would read other books by this author again if requested. 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $6.12 by clicking here. 

Book Review: The Uprising by James C. Williams

     While on a trip to town for supplies the vicious warlord Zuko attacks. Intent on freeing the country from his murderous intents she mounts her pet Thacasores Draco and flies across the country gathering allies who are willing to go to war against this powerful adversary. Although Zuko knows of her intents and seeks to quell them through fear tactics these only strengthen this teens resolve, even when her family dies at his hands. Can one young girl unite a kingdom to overcome this shared threat that has too long been ignored? 

    I received a copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review. The book needs an editor pretty badly, but if you can look past the formatting issues, typos, and things that don't make much sense (a character being in their 20s and being considered old) then it is a good book. We have a middle grade novel of a young girl who is going into town for supplies with what is essentially a pet dragon. A warlord sends soldiers to attack the town and she is the only one to stand up for it. She dashes to the blacksmith shop where the son of the owner has a crush on her and has forged her a weapon. She takes the weapon and saves what is left of the town before making it her personal mission to make sure Zuko never does anything like this again. 

    While Zuko tries fear tactics against her parents and the town she had previously saved it only steels the young girls resolve to rid the world of him. There is a queen in this book as well as magic and magical creatures as well. All in all it is a good little book to read. Would be so much better if there was an editor involved. Maybe in the future. Still, the book has a lot of promise. I'd be open to reading more by this author in the future. 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $2.99 by clicking here. 

Book Review: The Hills be Shaken by Michael Stewart

     When a dam in Kansas releases killing thousands the President of the United States demands answers. To get these answers a new band of FBI are trained who were former engineers. Their goals are simple. Figure out if what happened at the dam was natural causes or an attack and how to keep it from happening again. One such engineer is Kansas native Mose who begins making more progress than he should. Can he solve the truth behind the dam or will the death and threats stop him instead?

    I received a copy of this audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review. I have said it time and again and I get to reiterate it here, unfortunately. I loathe religious books. So much. We know my stipulation for that. But I will unabashedly state that every time it came up (with frequency) in this book I hit the 30 second skip button to get past the religious nonsense. 

    If that was ignored completely it was a good and interesting book. For me, that was a major detractor. The mystery of if it was an internal threat, external threat, or natural causes made for a great storyline. Also, a person who had no business in the FBI being the main character is a nice change of pace. Even if their marriage makes no sense. One moment he is having an internal monologue about not even being sure if he should call his wife Honey because they are little more than roommates that don't even sleep in the same room. The next they are talking about how they are so in love and that they mean the world to each other. 

    Moving on. I genuinely liked the cop, Sam in this book and his storyline was sad. I like how the author gave a bit of mystery as to who lived all the way up to the last chapter, though. 

    This book is available as an eBook on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $2.99 by clicking here. 

Book Review: Lily: The Dark World by SC James (The Dark World Series Book 1)

 

    Following the death of her mother Lily is determined to get answers. No matter what. While she is the one being tracked down and some key being demanded of her the Light World Council considers her the troublemaker and wants to see her away from the public. So, her father has done just that. Only, not in the way the corrupt council would like. Instead of entrusting her to their care she is sent to Kensington Boarding School. Can Lily gain the answers behind her mother's death? 

    I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This book starts out like a lot of other YA fantasy books. Young girl has powers. Lost a parent. A big bad is tracking her down. Certain powers of authority are corrupt and you don't know who to trust. Very likely the foretold one. Then things get very unique and keep you guessing until the last page. 

    While this book jumps perspectives throughout the main character is very obviously Lily. Not only because her name is in the title. She is a born vampire that can control shadows and has another secret secondary ability which makes her even more unique. 

    Although Lily is unique and loved by most of those around her she isn't a spoiled brat. She has no problem fighting her own battles and taking care of others when they are injured. That being said she isn't without fault either. I really liked Daemon in this book.. He's like an over-protective older brother who sometimes loses his mind. 

    I can't say that I expected the ending, but that is a good thing. No complaints about the unexpected. Curious to see what will happen next. 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it on Amazon for $6.03 by clicking here. 

Book Review: One of Our Spaceships is Missing by Chris Gerrib

 

   FBI agent Ray Volk has been tasked to look into the disappearance of a interplanetary passenger liner with 500 people on board. What started as a cut and dry depressurization case seems there is more to be found with the help of a cute Martian. There is a possibility of a hijacking and without communication from those onboard there may be no hope of rescue. 

    I received a copy a this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This book was suggested to me as an LGBT book and trust me it definitely lives up to that. I honestly don't believe there was one completely straight character in the entire book. Nothing wrong with that, just wasn't what I was expecting necessarily. Just giving you a heads up. 

    On to the book itself. While the blurb of the actual book leaves the question as to what happened to the ValuCardinal you will know within the first three chapters, not all of the details, of course because where would the fun be in that, but enough to know what happened. 

    The characters are all well rounded. The teenagers have problems with authority. The military defaults to training even if they've never seen combat. Grudges are held on sides of an old war. All kinds of things that you'd see in normal life as well. 

    The descriptions in the book are also great. There is enough detail where you can picture what is going on without it taking a page to describe a single scene. There also wasn't much in the way of typos which is always a plus. Indie author books have a tendency to be hit or miss in that regard and I'm always happy to receive an edited book. 

    This book is available on Kindle Unlimited or buy it for $4.99 by clicking here. 

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