Houses of Common ~ Review

Houses of Common
By Derick William Dalton

When Ranyk is sent on a mission that he doesn't want, he had no idea what he was about to get caught up in.  Added to that he has a little bit of difficulty fully grasping the intricacies of human language and this is about to add to his problems.

But something even more sinister is beneath the surface and tens of thousands of lives are hanging in the balance and anyone getting close to the truth is in danger.

Houses of Common is a story that spans across the species and into space as humanity has begun colonizing the solar system with the help of alien races.  But the current effort has hit a snag and unless Ranyk can discover why someone is trying to stop his efforts lives will be lost.

This is an interesting book that should appeal fans of YA fantasy/futuristic fiction, but be warned this is but the first in a series.

I was provided a digital copy of this book in conjunction with this blog tour.

About HOUSES OF COMMON: 

In the 22nd century, pilgrims leave Earth for the nearby planets that terraformers have crafted to meet their needs. Ranyk is a smart-mouthed alien, the best of the world-builders employed by the US government--and he always completes his risky assignments solo, pushing to the deep recesses of space for the good of colonists and to avoid his growing fame.

Until he's handed an on-planet assignment in Ireland, of all places, as an undercover international student of aquaponics. His real plan? To pull scientists and their families out of a country careening toward civil war--and off earth to a world of their own before marital-law lockdown ends their ground-breaking discoveries.

Risking his life is no novelty for Ranyk. He's been battered by asteroids, nearly incinerated in volcanoes, and has out-piloted pirates. But political espionage on Earth is more dangerous that anything he's encountered before, and he's completely ill-equipped for such delicate matters. Now he must figure out who to trust and who to eliminate, or it will mean his freedom, the safety of forty thousand desperate colonists, and the lives of his friends.

HOUSES OF COMMON on Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon About Derick William Dalton: 

Mr. Dalton is a professional student who has taken an occasional hiatus for 

such frivolities as teaching high school science, residential construction, and 

treating patients as a physician assistant. When not speaking of himself in the 

third person, he hangs out with his wife and kids and a smart-mouth turtle. He's 

also planning a mountain biking trip on the moon. Connect Online: Facebook Blog Author on Goodreads Zazzle (t-shirts)

CSFF March Blog Tour ~ A Draw of Kings Day 3

Welcome to the Third and Final day of the March 

CSFF Blog Tour

I really enjoyed these books.  Errol isn't who most people would pick to be a hero.  A young man without a family, considered the scum of his village, and a drunkard when the series opened.  But he is a man of hidden talents, a man upon whom greatness is thrust.  Errol didn't decide I'm going to be a hero, he just was what was needed at a particular moment.

We all would do well in following his example.  He rose above the trials and unfairness that life gave him. How often we idolize people who sink to the depths and pull us with them.  Yet we villainize those who triumph over the temptations of life, who become more without compromising their integrity in the doing.

The heroes in The Staff and The Sword aren't perfect, but they are people struggling to be the best they can be under Deas and Aurea.   Can we do less in our own lives?  Can we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the leading of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit?

I was provided a copy of this engaging book by the publisher in conjunction with this CSFF Blog Tour in exchange for my honest review.

To purchase from Amazon click the following: A Draw of Kings 

And be sure to visit the Author's Website 

Thank you for stopping by and visiting during this tour!
See you next month for another great book - NUMB.

Be sure to check-out all of the tour participants over the tour March 17 -19.

 Gillian Adams  Jennifer Bogart  Keanan Brand  Beckie Burnham

Mike Coville  Pauline Creeden  Vicky DealSharingAunt 

Carol Gehringer  Victor Gentile  Rebekah Gyger  Nikole Hahn 

Jason Joyner  Carol Keen  Krystine Kercher  Jennette Mbewe 

Amber McCallister  Shannon McDermott  Shannon McNear  Meagan @ Blooming with Books

Rebecca LuElla Miller  Joan Nienhuis  Nissa  Writer Rani  Nathan Reimer 

Audrey Sauble  James Somers  Jojo Sutis  Steve Trower  Shane Werlinger

Phyllis Wheeler  Nicole White  Jill Williamson

CSFF March Blog Tour ~ A Draw of Kings Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the CSFF March Blog Tour.

Today's posting is a little late (18 hours) thanks to computer issues, a long work day, and a cold but I have managed to get to a computer before the day was up.

I have to say at first A Draw of Kings ended on a note I didn't think I was going to like, but Patrick Carr did indeed surprise me!  The end I didn't see coming, came and yet it didn't.  I LOVE when books or movies can do that to me.  I'm always disappointed in a book that projects the ending half-way into the book so that I'm just waiting around to see how we got from point A to point B.

But A to B was not the case with A Draw of Kings.  I have to say I'm sorry to see this series end.  The characters drew me in and I was intrigued by the whole experience.  The Staff and The Sword is definitely a series I'll be revisiting (and my sister who is a fan of this genre is already trying to wrest them from my grasp - figuratively not literally!).

I was provided a copy of this engaging book by the publisher in conjunction with this CSFF Blog Tour in exchange for my honest review.

To purchase from Amazon click the following: A Draw of Kings 

And be sure to visit the Author's Website 

See you tomorrow for Day 3!

Be sure to check-out all of the tour participants over the tour March 17 -19.

 Gillian Adams  Jennifer Bogart  Keanan Brand  Beckie Burnham

Mike Coville  Pauline Creeden  Vicky DealSharingAunt 

Carol Gehringer  Victor Gentile  Rebekah Gyger  Nikole Hahn 

Jason Joyner  Carol Keen  Krystine Kercher  Jennette Mbewe 

Amber McCallister  Shannon McDermott  Shannon McNear  Meagan @ Blooming with Books

Rebecca LuElla Miller  Joan Nienhuis  Nissa  Writer Rani  Nathan Reimer 

Audrey Sauble  James Somers  Jojo Sutis  Steve Trower  Shane Werlinger

Phyllis Wheeler  Nicole White  Jill Williamson

CSFF March Blog Tour ~ Draw of Kings Day 1

Welcome to the first day of March's CSFF Blog Tour.

This month's book is A Draw of Kings by Patrick Carr.  This is the third book in The Staff and The Sword series.




But before taking a look at book 3 I'd like to recap the series:

A Cast of Stones
The Staff and The Sword Book 1
By Patrick W. Carr

A Cast of Stones is Errol Stone's story.  It opens with a young man who is a drunk and has been since he was 14 years old.  A tragic lost destroyed him and his image of himself and he turned to ale.  But when a simple task of delivering a message turns into a life and death struggle Errol's life is about to change forever.

In a series of events that threaten to end his life early Errol manages to survive.  But the question top-most on the minds of those most closely related to this lost young man is why would anyone be targeting him. Of what importance is Errol Stone an orphan with no skills but drinking ale?

But each experience strengthens Errol and allows him to grow as a person.

I was struck by the lust of power that drives the story.  The old statement power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely (and great men are almost always bad men.) seems to hold true for many of the characters.

The Hero's Lot
The Staff and The Sword Book 2
By Patrick W. Carr

What draws us to certain people and others just repulse us? It is a question that seems to follow Errol Stone.  For some reason unknown to Errol and those closest to him, he has enemies throughout the kingdom of Illustra.  But why would a young man who grew up in a small backwater town attract the attention of so many?

This what one hopes to discover at some point in this delightful attention grabbing series.  And of course one hopes that Errol will be able to marry the young woman who has captured his heart, but where matters of politics and power are concerned nothing is certain.  Especially when our hero has been accused and convicted of a crime so that his life might be saved only to be sent on a mission sure to result in the forfeiture of his life.  Alas Errol's troubles only continue to grow just as he continues to grow as person.

Time is short as the king's life draws to an end, but Errol's time is even shorter as a new compulsion is yet again placed on him to do the bidding of the church.  With his life and the lives of those nearest to him and the future of the very kingdom in the balance Errol must succeed or he will die.

To purchase from Amazon click the following: A Draw of Kings 

And be sure to visit the Author's Website 

See you tomorrow for Day 2!

Be sure to check-out all of the tour participants over the tour March 17 -19.

 Gillian Adams  Jennifer Bogart  Keanan Brand  Beckie Burnham

Mike Coville  Pauline Creeden  Vicky DealSharingAunt 

Carol Gehringer  Victor Gentile  Rebekah Gyger  Nikole Hahn 

Jason Joyner  Carol Keen  Krystine Kercher  Jennette Mbewe 

Amber McCallister  Shannon McDermott  Shannon McNear  Meagan @ Blooming with Books

Rebecca LuElla Miller  Joan Nienhuis  Nissa  Writer Rani  Nathan Reimer 

Audrey Sauble  James Somers  Jojo Sutis  Steve Trower  Shane Werlinger

Phyllis Wheeler  Nicole White  Jill Williamson

For Mercies Sake ~ Review

For Mercie's Sake

By Sharon Srock

Diana Kensington and Scottlyn Rich are both hurting.  What these two have lost is family - Diana can't past the death of her husband and Scottlyn is trapped by an attack and her father's anger.

For Mercie's Sake has a slight resemblance to Francine Rivers's The Atonement Child in that she is being pressured by her family to get rid of her child.

I like that by looking beyond her own problems and losses Diana is able to start healing.  This is an excellent story that does not take a long time to read.

I was provided a copy of this book by the author and BookFun.org in exchange for my honest review.

About the Book:
A victim of rape, sixteen year old Scottlyn Rich is disowned by her family when she refuses to abort the child she carries. Determined to raise her baby, she has no idea how to handle the obstacles ahead, she only knows that giving her daughter, Mercie, a chance to live is the most important thing she'll ever do.

Widowed school teacher Diana Kensington lost everything she held dear the day her husband’s plane fell out of the sky. Four hundred and thirty nine days later she still has no answer to her daily prayer. “What now, God?”

Can trust be built between these two lost women? Can they work together to fill the void in each other's lives, for Mercie' s sake?

Shadow Hand ~ Review

Shadow Hand
Tales of the Goldstone Wood #6
By Anne Elisabeth Stengl

In a word WOW!  To fully appreciate this book you should first read Heartless, Veiled Rose, and Moonblood if you have never picked up one of Anne Elisabeth Stengl's books before.  And believe me if you've read one you just are drawn into this world Between the Woods.  Anne Elisabeth weaves her stories so that they all flow together.  They intersect and and cross each other in the most unexpected ways.

Shadow Hand is a story out of time.  And Foxbrush and Daylily have unwittingly entered into it and are about to become an integral part of Southlands legend or are they?  These two characters are about to become more complete in fulfilling the destiny that has been theirs before time knew them.

Southlands is yet again to have a royal wedding and Lady Daylily is again to have the starring role, but her intended has changed.  Instead of Prince Lionheart she is instead to marry his cousin Crown Prince Foxbrush.  Both are pawns caught in a web not of their own making, until the letter.

A letter has sent the two into the Woods and their lives are never to be the same.  But during their absence, someone seeks to claim the throne for his own.  Can the path that Daylily and Foxbrush follow help them discover who they really are before it is too late?

If you've read the previous 5 Goldstone Wood books, you'll be happy to see some of your favorite characters are back including Prince Felix, Lionheart, Eanrin, Imraldera, and the Prince of Fartheststone.

At the very beginning I found the story a little confusing, but it all makes sense in the end and is well worth the time spent in the reading.  Shadow Hand is an intriguing and interesting book that will take you in a circle. (If I say more I'll give the story away and disrupt time!)

I just love this cover and this book has been on my wish list since I learned of it.  And reading it was not a disappointment.  Can't wait for book 7 The Golden Daughter coming November 2014!

I was provided a review copy of this book by the author, publisher and Bookfun.org in exchange for my honest review.





About the Book:

This is a story about blood.

And love.

And the many things that lie between.

By her father's wish, Lady Daylily is betrothed to the Prince of Southlands. Not the prince she loves, handsome and dispossessed Lionheart, but his cousin, the awkward and foolish Prince Foxbrush. As her wedding day dawns, Daylily flees into the dangerous Wilderlands, her only desire to vanish from living memory.

But Foxbrush, determined to rescue his betrothed, pursues Daylily into a new world of magic and peril, a world where vicious Faerie beasts hold sway, a world invaded by a lethal parasite. 

A world that is hauntingly familiar.

Author Bio:

Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Rohan, a passel of cats, and one long-suffering dog. When she's not writing, she enjoys Shakespeare, opera, and tea, and studies piano, painting, and pastry baking. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at Campbell University. She is the author of the award-winning Tales of Goldstone Woods series, an ever-growing world of knights and dragons, mystical forests and hidden demesnes, unspeakable evil and boundless grace.

Her first novel, Heartless, won the Christy award for best debut in 2011, followed by an unprecedented consecutive win the next year for Veiled Rose, in its own category, and Starflower was most recently honored with the Clive Staples Award for 2013.

In the Shadow of Jezebel ~ Review

IN THE SHADOW OF JEZEBEL
A Novel
By Mesu Andrews

Jezebel's influence is spreading through the generations as her daughter Queen Athaliah of Judah manipulates the nation, her son Ahaziah, and her chosen daughter Jehosheba.  Can the shadow of Jezebel's vile and corrupt heart be overshadowed by someone greater?

When the Princess Jehosheba is given in marriage to Yahweh's high priest, how can this be pleasing in the sight of God?  Raised to be a high priestess for Baal, what does she know of these Yahwists with whom she must live and bring to Baal?  And Sheba's first convert Yahweh's new high priest - Jehoiada.  But God has other plans and Sheba may be the convert to Yahweh.

Chosen to be a Queen of Destiny Jehosheba's choice may determine the path of a nation.  But to determine her worth she must first free herself and those she holds dear from the shadow of Jezebel's tyranny.

I like the fact that Sheba's husband isn't perfect and that he struggles to walk with God even as he guides his new wife to an understanding and belief in God.  Sheba's transformation is remarkable, but believable as it takes place over a period of time and isn't immediate.

The hateful, vile manipulations of both Athaliah and Jezebel do nothing in making one feel sympathy for the two.  Everything they do seems suspect and, as is often the case in this book, a means to an even greater evil.  These are two women you don't want to meet!

It is always interesting to read Biblical fiction, to get a glimpse at what might be going on in the minds of these various people.  This was definitely a book that held my interest until the end.  The utter cruelty and immorality involved with the ceremonies of Baal is contrasted with the worship with God. If you are interested in exploring the times and cultures of the Old Testament be sure to pickup a copy of In the Shadow of Jezebel.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher, Revell, in exchange for my honest review.

About:

In a kingdom controlled by cruel and manipulative women, one princess will discover the power of truth and love.
Trained as a priestess in the temple of Baal, Princess Jehosheba strives to please the demanding Queen Athaliah, daughter of Jezebel. But when a mysterious letter from the dead prophet Elijah predicts doom for the royal household, Jehosheba realizes that the dark arts she practices reach far beyond the realm of earthly governments.

Forced to marry Yahweh's high priest in order to further Athaliah and Jezebel's power plays, Jehosheba enters the unfamiliar world of Yahweh's Temple. Can her new husband show her the truth and love she craves? And can Jehosheba overcome her fear and save the family--and the nation--she loves?

With deft skill, Mesu Andrews brings the Old Testament to life, revealing a fascinating story of the power of unconditional love.