Book Review: Summer Moon (Celtic Wolves #2) by Jan DeLima

Summer Moon (Celtic Wolves #2)
by Jan DeLima
Paperback, 304 pages
September 30th 2014 by Ace
She won’t be ruled again……

Rosa Alban has been obedient her entire life. But when her alpha husband dies, she seizes the opportunity to flee the oppressive Guardians—the rulers of the secret shapeshifter world. Her flight instantly brands her as a pack traitor, and she has no choice but to seek protection from a neighboring tribe by marrying one of their sons.

Known as the Beast of Merin, Luc Black loyally plays the part of unwanted son and devoted brother. He realizes marrying Rosa will strengthen his tribe’s territory, but he has no intention of loving ever again. Still, he’s unprepared for the intense physical need the wild she-wolf awakens in him.

When the Guardians hone in on Rosa, Luc must fight to protect his new bride. And as war descends, the unlikely allies discover their destinies are irrevocably entwined.

You are welcome to read the first chapter of Summer Moon on Jan’s website.

Summer Moon appears to begin not long after book one Celtic Moon concludes. In this installment we follow Rosa Alban the recent widow of an evil megalomaniac Guardian who has made her life and those of the holding one of misery and pain with little care, brutal treatment, and no thoughts but for his own twisted desires and greed. Following the death of her husband, Rosa is not without power or influence of her own having the love and respect of those in her charge and now claiming ownership of the holdings. As a female shifter the Guardians are all trying to claim her to increase their power base and bring her to heel for their own dastardly desires.

Rosa is a kind and caring woman who wants to protect those in her charge and secretly seeks out aid and an alliance from the neighboring renegade shifters. Luc is a powerful shifter who has long been widowed and is bound by vows to his dead wife. He is also the brother of the head of the tribe from whom Rosa seeks the alliance and he steps up to the call for aid to forge the new alliance.

The story continues with twisty turns and face-offs while sparks of desire turn to raging flames between Rosa and Luc, but this is not a simple tale and there are many pitfalls before there can be a resolution to the unfolding story.

I enjoyed the tale very much and though I did not read book one, and there are obvious points of world building and character introduction that are missed, I did not feel lost by beginning with Summer Moon. The writing was very entertaining and kept me turning page after page to see how this would all resolve. The characters are interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy plenty of action, conspiracies, as well as seeing some baddies get back some of what they dished out and a taste of something new in a world of shifters with a bit of smexy and romance. I am looking forward to reading future installments in this series and hope to read book one, Celtic Moon, as well to catch up on some of the world building and characters we have a peripheral glimpse of in this installment. I received this book via NetGalley.

4 Sheep

DeniseZ

About the Author:
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Jan lives in Maine with her husband of twenty years and their two teenage sons. Unlike many authors, Jan didn't pen stories at an early age but has always been a dedicated reader. She loves stories and storytelling. It wasn't until after her children entered school that she began writing. Raised in a military family, she lived in different countries such as Thailand and Germany, but home base has always been Maine. She brought a mixture of all her experiences to her first published novel, blending castles and Celtic lore with the wild nature of her home.

Interview: Adrian Cole (The Shadow Academy Book Tour)

Please welcome Adrian Cole to I Smell Sheep. The Shadow Academy is a current release by

EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

let's all hate Adrian for being
at the beach in Devon!

Thanks Adrian for joining us today from the beach at Devon in the UK, on I Smell Sheep. How are you doing today?
Had a very nice day - a bit cloudier, but still amazingly warm.

Thanks for joining us. Can you tell us about The Shadow Academy?
The Shadow Academy is set in a world that is very like our own, in which events have taken a slightly different path. Britain is almost totally forested and civilization has stumbled, technology lost. A strict authoritarian regime imposes the rules on societies from a central base in Londonborough and in Dumnonia (equivalent to our Devon) the local "pagan" society is showing signs of rebellion. A young teacher is appointed here and discovers a number of disturbing truths, not least of which is a murder...but why was it committed? What is the Authority trying to hide

What was your favorite thing about writing this book? What did you enjoy most?
Using my local background (I live in rural Devon (in a small town) and superimposing an imagined world on the real one in such a way that I could write about things close to my heart - I've always been fascinated by the way aurthority has a tendency to overstep the mark, from the central Government, right on down to the little people - I worked in a large school for 20 years and saw examples of this!

Who was the most interesting character to create and why?
Probably Deadspike, who is a nasty piece of work, although he believes in what he is doing, i.e imposing the rules at any cost. He's not at all likeable, but I have tried to make him all too credible. In earlier books a lot of my villains are straightforward bad guys - Deadspike is a shade more complex.

What a great character. What does he look like?
I can still see the guy in my mind's eye - he's tallish, very thin, with long, pale hands and an expression that rarely gives away what he is thinking. Interestingly to me, in the audio book (quick plug there!) he is voiced extremely well by the actor, who has caught the underlying menace in the character very neatly.

What is the most paranormal element of The Shadow Academy?
The paranormal constitutes an atmosphere that hovers over everything from the opening, so that the reader is not sure as the book progresses whether there are supernatural elements at play - certainly at least one of the characters is sure that is the case and the main protagonist, Chad Mundy, grows ever more uneasy as the plot unfolds.

There is also a mystery to the underlying Plague Wars - what, exactly, did they unleash all those years ago?

What is strangest thing that has happened to you personally?
I was up on Dartmoor, alone and some distance from civilization, climbing over the rise of a long tor, searching for a tall menhir, or standing stone, called the Beardown Man. The mist was closing in but I found the stone (about 11 feet high) and although I'm skeptical about the supernatural, I couldn't bring myself to touch the stone. For me, that was quite a powerful moment. I incorporated it into a children's book I wrote some years ago called MOORSTONES.

Incredible. Talking about children, you have been writing since you were a child. How did you get started writing?
I think it was reading that got me fired up - I started any number of hand-written "novels" from the age of about 10 onwards (first one was a take on BLACK BEAUTY, complete with illos!) but when I was in my late teens, reading LORD OF THE RINGS, DUNE and Dennis Wheatley's black magic books got me at it seriously - I hand wrote my first shot at a novel and after some four re-writes and a typed version, I sent it off to an agent and, somehow, it sold!

Do you have any advice for young writers?
My advice to young writers is probably what a lot of established writers would say - it is very very hard to earn a good living out of writing, so don't give up your day job. Make sure you earn enough money to keep yourself (and family if you have one) from starving and write as much as you can around the job. If you are lucky enough to get a big break, then go for it, but remember, to earn the equivalent of a proper annual wage, you have to sell a heck of a lot of books - do the maths - it's daunting!

In the end, what makes it worthwhile for you as a writer?
I always get a huge kick out of holding the finished, published book. It's also very heartwarming when even one reader says they enjoyed your work. I am an exhibitionist, so I like an audience, even a small one! It's also exciting to see your characters come to life on the printed page - and if you have an audio book done (another plug) it's very satisfying and a bit spooky. Never had anything filmed, but that would be amazing - well, if they got it right.

Thank you Adrian for joining us today.
Thanks for having me on I Smell Sheep!

The Shadow Academy
by Adrian Cole
Genre: Science Fiction
Paperback, 224 pages
Expected publication: September 1st 2014 by Hades Publications
ISBN 1770530649 (ISBN13: 9781770530645)
Publisher: EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
After the Plague Wars they waited for the invasion. And as the new Dark Age dawns… there is one who can bring light.
In a world little more than a whisper away from ours, the islands of Grand Brittannia lie just off the shores of the deeply forested content of Evropa, the dark and forbidding realm of legends scarcely remembered.

Grand Brittannia, itself almost completely a place of deep forest and mystery, has at its heart the crumbling, anachronistic administrative city of Londonborough. From here the Central Authority wields power over the Islands and exercises its control rigidly and clinically. Since the rigours of the Plague Wars, some hundred years in the past, when almost the entire population of the world was wiped out and the gradual decline of civilization began, industry and technology have atrophied, their development now strictly vetted by the Authority.

Out on the far-flung coasts, a network of ancient fortress ports wait in readiness for an invasion that some say will never come, their ancient, declining Academies committed to the rigours of training the defenders of the Islands. These Academies are subjected to regular inspections by Enforcers from Londonborough, and their native inhabitants are constantly being swelled by the young military graduates from the Authority’s own Military Academies in the center. Into a cauldron of intrigue and subterfuge that is the town and Academy of Petra comes Chad Mundy, the Authority’s replacement for Drew Vasillius, a veteran teacher who has committed suicide. At least, that is what he’s been told.

About the Author:

website
Adrian Cole was born in Plymouth, Devonshire in 1949. He was formerly the Director of College Resources in a large secondary school in Bideford, where he lives with his wife, Judy, son Sam, and daughter Katia. Now retired and writing full time, he is best known for his Omaran Saga as well as his young adult novels, Moorstones and The Sleep of Giants.His recent collection of short stories, Nick Nightmare Investigates, has been published by Alchemy Press (UK). The Shadow Academy is a new release by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing.(Canada/US)

October Movie Releases 2014

What to see, what too see...ERMERGERD! Dracula Untold!

And behold, Michael Keaton as Birdman

Oct 3

Oct 10

Oct 17

Oct 24

Oct 31

The North by Sean Cummings - Not Your Mother’s YA Zombie Novel +giveaway

Not Your Mother’s YA Zombie Novel

Post-apocalyptic fiction is nothing new; it’s been around for decades.

Back in the day when I had hair and Iron Maiden was my musical everything, Stephen King's THE STAND scared the hell out of me – it still does. It is and will always remain the GOLD standard when it comes to post apocalyptic fiction as far as I’m concerned. I've read it numerous times since 1982 and it's the one book more than any other that inspired me to write THE NORTH.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read a ton of other post-apocalypse books. Titles like WAR DAY by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka (which I'm sure is the template for Max Brooks' brilliant World War Z though I can't prove it) Nature's End by the aforementioned pair of authors and finally Swan Song by Robert R, McCammon were fantastic, amazing reads.

And of course I love zombies. Like, a lot.

In THE NORTH, I wanted to see what would happen if it was just teenagers alone against the world. Of note is the fact that in my book, it’s six months after the end of the world and the reasons for the zombie outbreak are moot. Survival is the rule of the day and hand-to-hand combat has become the new normal.

So what sets THE NORTH apart is there really aren’t any adults at all – until much later in the book. It’s also a very military book – my characters are all in the army reserves, what we call the “militia” here in Canada. It’s a simple premise – break out of the city, fight to stay alive and recognize that your average run of the mill walking cadaver isn’t the only enemy. Most of the book takes place inside the bellies of Arks One and Two – a pair of infantry fighting vehicles.

This is a dark book. It goes to some very difficult places because the old world is dead and the new one is a far more dangerous place than anyone could have possibly imagined. The central figure is David Simmons – he has skin in the game in that he is motivated to protect his eight-year-old kid sister, Jo. He has sworn to himself that he will save her life and keep her innocence intact – whatever the cost. As the story progresses, Jo becomes transformed despite all of David’s best efforts and the cost comes in the way of choices that David makes – all of which are stark, brutal and often arbitrary.

I’d like to think this book contrasts a lot of other YA zombie books that are on the shelves because of the military nature and the fact that my protagonist David must keep the team together and fighting all the while keeping himself from falling apart.

There are strong secondary characters. There is internal conflict. There are tactical blunders that cost people’s lives and a shock ending that you simply won’t see coming.

Oh ... and it's in Canada. Because as nice as Canada is, we aren't immune to the zombie apocalypse! ;)

I hope you enjoy the book. It’s the first in a planned trilogy. Expect book two – INSURGENCY next fall.

The North

by Sean Cummings 

Kindle Edition, 320 pages
September 29, 2014

 by Bloor Street Books

Breakout from the armoury. Escape the city. Live. 

Sixteen-year-old David Simmons is on a mission to save his eight-year-old sister. In a smoldering world infested with walking cadavers, the survivors of Simmons infantry reserve unit are going hatches down in a pair of armoured personnel carriers and everyone knows that it’s only a matter of time until their fuel runs dry.

There’s a weak short wave radio signal from a place called Sanctuary Base and it’s supposed to be zombie-free. But there’s more than a thousand miles to cover, a biting, unforgiving cold, armed survivalists, legions of the living dead and someone called SUNRAY.

They’re outgunned, outnumbered and out of time.

This tense thriller for teens offers a terrifying and brutal vision of survival in a post-apocalyptic world where the bonds of friendship and family are the only things left that are worth fighting for.

About the Author:
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Sean Cummings is a fantasy author with a penchant for writing quirky, humorous and dark novels featuring characters that are larger than life. His debut was the gritty urban fantasy SHADE FRIGHT published in 2010. He followed up later in the year with the sequel FUNERAL PALLOR. His urban fantasy/superhero thriller UNSEEN WORLD was published in 2011.

2012 saw the publication of Sean’s first urban fantasy for young adults. POLTERGEEKS is a rollicking story about teen witch Julie Richards, her dorky boyfriend and race against time to save her mother’s life. The first sequel, STUDENT BODIES hit bookstores in September 2013.

Sean's newest book is THE NORTH. A post-apocalyptic zombie thriller for teens.

GIVEAWAY

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Coming Soon: Mist Unveiled (Elemental Desire, Book 1) by Nancy Corrigan + giveaway

Mist Unveiled (Elemental Desire, Book 1)
by Nancy Corrigan
Cat has one love in her life—science. Facts rule her, not passion. At least it doesn’t until an unknown deadly virus claims her sister’s life. Cat’s quest for answers takes her to Greenland and drops her into the arms of the one man who sways her devotion from logic to passion. Rune stirs her lusts, ignites her desires and fuels her carnal cravings, but he isn’t simply a lover, nor is he human. He’s a weapon, one that has the potential to save or destroy her.

Rune, a child of the mist, awakens into a world hovering on the verge of destruction. Rising temperatures have released his enemies from their frozen prison without his knowledge. He searches for them but finds Cat, a human with the power to save him and the world. He hungers for her—blood, body and soul. Every moment of shared passion convinces him of the truth—she’s his greatest treasure, one he’ll die to keep.

A Romantica® paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave.

amazon

Excerpt

She’d noticed he only answered the questions she posed, nothing more. She supposed many people would be annoyed with him for it. Part of her was too. The rest of her appreciated the silence he offered. She had to admit, though, she was interested.

“What did you do in Iceland?”

He mapped her face before focusing on her eyes. “Security.”

She chuckled at the one word answer. Yesterday, she would’ve been content with it because really, did she need more than that? Despite her attraction to him, Rune was a stranger who would pass through her life. In a few days, she’d leave Greenland and him behind. Her curiosity demanded more, however. A few details would be nice to add to her memory of him.

“As a guard?”

He gave her a single nod.

“Of what?”

He skimmed his finger down her throat, but thankfully dropped his hand before she combusted from the simple touch. “Important people and their possessions.”

“And what do you do here in Upernavik?”

He took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her palm, heating her chilled skin. “The same, but you are my sole responsibility now.” His gaze locked to hers. “And you are the most valuable person I’ve ever been responsible for.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23248146-mist-unveiled

About the Author:
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Youtube trailer
Nancy Corrigan believes in unending love and epic tales with a paranormal flare. She enjoys transcending the boundaries of reality to take her readers on an erotic, emotional and romantic journey.

She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband and three children. When she’s not weaving sizzling fantasies, she works as a chemist in a pharmaceutical lab.