review of The Lost Shrine series 3: By Blood Betrayed by Amberlyn Holland

 

                            https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40776913-by-blood-betrayed

 

This book continues a series set in a well-realized fantasy universe that is reminiscent of ancient Eire. Each storyline follows a 'power couple' brought together by the Goddess to counter forces of evil let loose by blood magick. Holland has imbued each meeting tale with gripping adventure and relatable personalities who have successfully blended their special abilities with a matrix of loving humanity and greater service to their world.

Those who prefer a veil of sacred euphemism to remain between them and the physical aspects of romance will be pleased by this series, which makes it safe for young adults. Descriptions never stray beyond kissing and cuddling in this third installment.

The three shape-shifting Hound brothers have divided the hunt for dark sorcery between them, with the youngest, Phelan, assigning himself to the dangerous borderlands of Marnak, under the very nose of the evil warlord Trask. As a spying bard he insinuates himself into the rebel underground in search of a lost power place that has been nearly drained by the evil blood magick along the border with his birthplace, the land of the Thousand Tribes. What he finds is a close-knit clan of refugees led by flame haired twins who fled from a monstrous fate.

Selena and her brother were closer to the evil Phelan hunts than they would like to admit, and it still seeks them. She knows her healing magic should be for the land and not for conquest, that family should be aligned with love and not coercion. She's given up on personal dreams of happiness, beyond keeping her brother and their self-made family safe. Is the ballad-singing stranger putting them in danger, or will he help root out a hidden enemy in their midst? Can they muster allies enough to stop the poisoning of their waters? She discovers that she has supernatural allies greater than the darkness, but will they last beyond this hour of peril?

This book stands alone quite well, but you will be craving happy endings for all the heroes.

review of The Lost Shrines 4: By Love Reclaimed by Amberlyn Holland

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40777267-by-love-reclaimed

 

 

This book continues a series set in a well-realized fantasy universe that is reminiscent of ancient Eire. Each storyline follows a 'power couple' brought together by the Goddess to counter forces of evil let loose by blood magick. Holland has imbued each meeting tale with gripping adventure and relatable personalities who have successfully blended their special abilities with a matrix of loving humanity and greater service to their world.

Those who prefer a veil of sacred euphemism to remain between them and the physical aspects of romance will be pleased by this series, which makes it safe for young adults. Descriptions never stray beyond kissing and cuddling in this installment.
This book stands alone quite well, but you will be craving happy endings for all the heroes.


The three shape-shifting Hound brothers have divided the hunt for dark sorcery between them, and Ranulf surprised them by opting to return to the Milesan Isle of Tirnan, where once his heart was broken. Somewhere is a rumored goddess cave, fully separated from the renowned sacred Sword shrine, and dark forces could infiltrate there and put all their lands at risk. Tara's father scorned Ranulf as an adopted and inferior Milesan then; this legacy persists due to the family secrets Tara and her brother and sister still conceal.

Tara, a Defender of Hearth and Home, is struggling to keep their isle whole despite the worsening onslaughts of darkness that plague her and her sister of Harvest and brother of Storm. How can a Harbinger of Death like Ran possibly aid full Milesan Powers like them? Why was their love judged so wrong when it felt so right in their youth? It will take the truth, and the powers of both their feuding lineages, to defeat the insidious plots the blood sorcerer laid in the course of generations.

Only then will Ran and Tara allow themselves to love again. If it succeeds, and they are not separated by the Death he senses around her.

Though this is the purported end of the series I sense that there are other pairings possible and not yet explored by Amberlyn. 

 

 

review of The Lost Shrine series 2: By Destiny Bound by Amberlyn Holland

 

                     https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40776865-by-destiny-bound

This book continues a series set in a well-realized fantasy universe that is reminiscent of ancient Eire. Each storyline follows a 'power couple' brought together by the Goddess to counter forces of evil let loose by blood magick. Holland has imbued each meeting tale with gripping adventure and relatable personalities who have successfully blended their special abilities with a matrix of loving humanity and greater service to their world.

Those who prefer a veil of sacred euphemism to remain between them and the physical aspects of romance will be pleased by this series, which makes it safe for young adults. Descriptions never stray beyond kissing and cuddling in this second installment, where the bonding appears accidental.

The three shape-shifting Hound brothers have divided the hunt for dark sorcery between them, with the eldest, Maddyn, assigned to the city-state of Galwei. The magical source endangered has been so well hidden by the holy order of Kelan for centuries that locating it seems the hardest problem to solve. But when he encounters a certain unconventional novice called Yve, secrets fall into view in the nick of time as the head of the Order is ambushed by a murderous blood mage.

Yve joined the Kelan Order hoping for a life more in line with heroic legend than her present contemplative existence has been until now. The other novices and courtiers react to the Hound Harbinger of Death with fear; she can't overcome her magnetic draw to him and must resign the outcome to the will of the Goddess. It lands her in a role of influence she could barely imagine but must master swiftly, for the good of her land.

Neither of them expected this; neither of them want it to end, though they think it must. This book stands alone quite well, but you will be wanting more happy endings for our other heroes.

review of The Lost Shrine series 1: By Vengeance Guided by Amberlyn Holland

 

 

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40776828-by-vengeance-guided

This book begins a series set in a well-realized fantasy universe that is reminiscent of ancient Eire. Each storyline follows a 'power couple' brought together by the Goddess to counter forces of evil let loose by blood magick. Holland has imbued each meeting tale with gripping adventure and relatable personalities who have successfully blended their special abilities with a matrix of loving humanity and greater service to their world.

Those who prefer a veil of sacred euphemism to remain between them and the physical aspects of romance will be pleased by this series, which makes it safe for young adults. Descriptions never stray beyond kissing and cuddling, even in this first installment, where a fertility rite is crucial to the plot.

Caerwyn of the Isles is of the Milesan race, who are each born to embody a godlike power of their universe, which overshadows their human personality when invoked properly. His is the spirit of Vengance, and has kept him roaming the lands of this world to redress the killing of his parents in defense of an ancestral Cauldron of power. He is aided in this by his foster brothers the Hounds, with shape-shifting abilities of the Thousand Tribes race but also Milesan ones, granted by the healing Cauldron. They have been summoned by Daen, prince of Galwei, because he suspects he has been bewitched. The culprit? His betrothed, Lady Liadan of Hara Dale.

Liadan herself knows that this betrothal is all sorts of wrong. The match would badly upset the balance between her tiny principality and its neighbors; besides, she was not supposed to be the true heir, but rather her sister, and eventually, her three year old niece. Now Gui, her sister's husband, is attempting to manipulate her the way her sister once allowed herself to be used. Ancestral secrets of the land are in grave danger. What does the stranger who calls himself 'Wyn' have against her family? Is he friend or foe?

What he and the Hounds uncover will not only seal the fate of Hara Dale but all of the human kingdoms.

This book stands alone quite well, but you will be wanting more happy endings for our other heroes.

Review: Beneath: Running from the Devil 1, by J E Taylor and Katie Salidas

 

 

 

 

The book begins with long-time torturer of Hell Phenex taking a chance upon a rogue portal and ending up stranded in New York City with very realistic culture shock. Fate has assigned her exactly one ally, a being equally between realms as she is, and a redemption contract that she'd best fulfill or else.

The ally, Smoke, prefers living as a stray tomcat to either Hell or Heaven. Phenex, or as she renames herself, Phoebe,
discovers a long-buried joy in aiding animals serves her well. Her task is to stop a rogue Djinn from gorging on too many human lottery winners with the help of a Night Hag she met Down Below... all before she figures out how to learn to read.

The only hiccup I encountered in believing this unfolding tale was how quickly our heroine figures out the telling of time. Otherwise I was very easily entranced by this spin on the supernatural realms, and look forward to finding out what's making the portals, why Lucifer is MIA Down There, and whether Phoebe and Smoke can do all seven of her Redemption Tasks while also becoming a full-fledged Veterinarian's assistant. That is, if she quits nearly dying prematurely. Fine start to a series.

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3564604987

 https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Running-Devil-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07XDC8LVF/

 

Although it is not marketed as a YA,  I am designating it as one because it is not at all romantic or even sexual in content, and it has plenty of puppies.

Review: YA romance and regime change; Cats and Wolves by Amberlyn Holland

I believe the universe created by Ms Holland is absolutely perfect for a YA romance audience. They have strong plots and stand on their own while detailing a new generation of shifters who are ousting a corrupt establishment, incidentally discovering the bonds of friendship and non-explicit romance. They are a dose of hope greatly needed in all our lives, acceptable for any audience.

Cats and Wolves is no exception. Carrying out a mission together brings Caitlyn into a position where she can overcome her prejudices about wolves, reclaim her family legacy, and let it go for the greater good. Doane, the wolf assisting her, gets to lay to rest some of the scars of his own troubled past and align the result with the greater good. When they both realize that they deserve happiness it's soooooo good.

The tie-ins to other episodes of the historic unfolding of regime change through love are there, but not annoying or incongruous.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54280638-cats-and-wolves 

I've got a #free #paranormalromance #ebook in this giveaway! Help yourself

 I've got a #free #paranormalromance #ebook in this giveaway! Help yourself  



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  Fangs, magic and wings... Whatever your paranormal obsession we've got you covered!

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  Fangs, magic and wings... Whatever your paranormal obsession we've got you covered!

Victoria Marmot and the Dragon's Rage, Victoria Marmot and the Road to Hell by Virginia McClain --YA review

Victoria Adelaide Marmot is a one-off incredible heroine you will instantly like and if she doesn't succeed in saving the universe, you will never get to meet her. So read any one of her series of adventures while you have this chance.

I was plunged into the midst of her struggles and updated on the previous developments very smoothly in the course of the adventure, meaning I felt no lack from not having begun with volume 1 at all. That's a great skill by itself. And although I do feel a bit of itch to find out what happens when Vic manages to use her dimension-hopping ability to claw her way back to Earth AGAIN (because in this volume alone she leaves and returns several times), I am comfortably aware that because I am here and typing this review, she did make it. Because the Universe is still here; the villain got thwarted.

Well, all right, I'd like to know more and I will probably try to get a few more volumes into my reader, because Vic and her colleagues are an international, inter-species magical shifter supernatural rainbow of diversity, including gods and demons. There is snogging and flirting but it remains YA suitable without sacrificing realism very much.

I think the shocking sexy stuff happened more in volume 3 where she meets the succubus :D



 Victoria Marmot and the Road to Hell

 Yes, that is our Victoria on the cover. She hasn't even assumed her final form!

The witty asides, and breaking of the fourth wall (in which Vic berates the author for dropping her from the frying pan into the fire repeatedly) continue in this final volume of the series. Goddess Gwyn explains things, Vic and her friends manage to save the universe and what is more, save her loving family as Vic finds it within her to finally forgive.

Any story with a succubus among the good guys and polyamory front and center is going to mention sex, but is through tasteful elisions and fully YA compliant IMO. Only kissing. And there is a kitten.

Highly recommended, entire series.
"I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review."


 https://www.amazon.com/Virginia-McClain/e/B00LMISTLG?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000

Review: Obsidian Awakening (The Rose Vampires Book 7) by Ivana Skye

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47968958-obsidian-awakening

  Sara Obsidian is a whole new creature, and she has appeared just in time to save her city of Ye Libelula from an all-out bloody factions war. If only she can remember how to live in her own body! Her unusual new abilities require some getting used to. Luckily she has all her loving consorts on her side.

Modeling a way forward for her new vampire society to live together in harmony is first order of business for this bonding of love. Seven heads in accord are so much better than one. And it's STILL all-ages appropriate! Thank you Ivana Skye.

Review: Magic In Disguise (Agents of A.S.S.E.T. #3) by Katie Salidas

This is the 3rd installment of the Agents of A.S.S.E.T series featuring Sage Cymwrig. She grew up in Phoenix unaware of her mother's actual profession as one of these buffers between the regular human and the arcane world. Her mom died in the line of duty and Sage discovers she is actually a Terran, one of the great lineages created with absolute immunity to magic. Heritage obliges her to continue the family profession, but in the previous episode she has come up against something beyond the usual, and it's kept at bay only by being stuck to her, literally.

This episode is about how the spreading blackness in Sage's left hand is finally remedied, and in the process, all manner of conspiracies and power schemes are exposed. Also exposed are the vulnerabilities in her partner Grey's past that have been scuttling their effectiveness as a team. While the rest of her life is literally burnt to the ground, Sage and Grey race against time to get assistance and materials for a showdown with the Goddess Herself.

I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. But I would gladly have gotten this action-packed heart-wringing adventure on my own.

Although there is romance, it is never explicit enough to make the series wrong for young people. The characters are much too busy surviving frequent injuries to do more than cuddle.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42315877-magic-in-disguise

Andrew Einspruch, Utopian: The Western Lands and All That Really Matters

Andrew Einspruch, Utopian
Einspruch is also known for science books for young readers.

 But if you have never read a FICTION book by Andrew Einspruch, you are missing out.  The saga of the twin princesses of the Western Lands and All That Really Matters is top-notch, all-ages utopia, quite as real as Narnia or Oz. They are delineated in a pleasant blend of puns, darkness, puns, whimsy and wit, in the spirit of William Steig, Roald Dahl, or indeed, Lewis Carroll. Yes, I opine that every child needs to know about Princess Eloise Hydra Gumball III ! and her world.

The universe of the Gumball Dynasty is truly utopian in one important sense, in that all its creatures are sentient as well as able to speak. Naturally fellow citizens don't eat one another either, which means the inhabitants of this series of kingdoms tend not to be predators. You will be entertained greatly without mention of cats or dogs, much less lions or wolves. And what they do eat is just as entertaining! 

For one reason or another, obligate carnivores did not make the evolutionary cut leading to this possible future. Whether those who insist on eating one another even still exist is moot; these tales take place in areas where leeches represent the Bloodletters Guild and your hairdresser is a platypus; that is, it's civilized.

That is not to say that Princess Eloise the Heir, or Princess Johanna the Second-Born, cannot have exciting and taxing adventures.  This world contains rather a lot of magic, not just scholarship and useful inventions, though there is not as much magic as in The Tme Before.  Both girls have 'weak magic' for minor things, such as Johanna's way with plants, or Eloise's ability to throw things.  Eloise's best friend, Jerome de Chipmunk, is son of Maybelle, the Court Seer, whose prophecies turn out to be quite accurate, if sometimes misunderstood.

The books in the series may be read in any order, although The Purple Haze rather begs one to quickly read the Star of Whatever. They follow the heroines from childhood to womanhood.

The Wombanditos: 
 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F657YV6/

 A young princess and her chipmunk friend play truant in order to attend an agricultural festival, then have to use their wits to get free of a family of wombat thieves.


The Thorning Ceremony: 

  Coming of age for a Gumball Dynasty princess is a big deal indeed! The herbal ore and imparting of life skills is handed down via a very ceremonious series of ordeals, some private, some public, and all fraught with significance for a princess's future. The twins, being each her own girl, handle the trials they face very differently from their mother, or one another, with consequences for the rest of their lives.




The Purple Haze: 

 The monarchs of the Western Lands and All That Really Matters receive a state visit from the twins' uncle, King Doncaster of the Northern 'Half-Kingdom'.  His invitation to Princess Johanna, who is his favorite neice, to visit him is accepted. But then the Royal Seer, Maybelle de Chipmunk, has a devastating vision just after they have left,  prompting the King and Queen to dispatch Princess Eloise to fetch her back.  The adventure commences, including a dismaying number of stretches spent in the royal dungeons of different kingdoms, as well as a cliff-hanger, or should I say haze-hanger, at the end.

The Star of Whatever:

  Princesses Eloise and Johanna find themselves in a place where everyone and everything is dead, except them. They face a quest to rid their world of an ancient magical mistake. It will make them into true monarchs, as well as the heroes they were born to be.



The Light-Bearer: (forthcoming) 

 The formulaic Westernlander wish, 'Boring journey,' still hasn't come true for our princesses.  A prophecy of the Central Mountain Kingdom is about to be fulfilled, and it involves Princess Eloise Hydra Gumball III, who still hasn't made it home to the Western Lands and All That Really Matters.

~

This world and its stories give readers hope for a future where things may go haywire, but with the help of love for all beings, things often go right. I for one welcome our vegetarian Einspruch overlords.

Paranormal YA Review : Scion's Delight by Jeffrey Bardwell

 This heir to the kingdom is partisan to artficers and mechanisms, and cannot forgive the mage guild for having such an odious power-mad schemer on the Royal Council. Everything changes when a northern barbarian MAGE becomes her most trusted servant, using his abilities to aid her experiments, and more. The book keeps us reading as we follow the maturation of the princess, emotionally as well as intellectually.  

https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2427054298?source=facebook_share&fbclid=IwAR1rJI6OJwFrKe1DdVQr3TFJwgycIUWHW-HOKWQakIBs0wHi2_bl2l3_DsM


A cunning trap. A whiff of magic. A burst of steam.
Princess Cordelia has steel plate ambition, a mind like twisting brass gears, and the political might of tin foil. The girl aims to ratchet the Iron Empire into a glorious new day of gears and steam. The entire palace is arrayed against her. The chambermaids disdain her. The emperor ignores her. The mages, championed by Lord Oriolanus, lead a brisk campaign of lies and coercion. Those evil magic users threaten to tighten their grip upon the land even though machines are clearly superior. By the gods’ oil-stained hands, why can’t anyone else see her vision of the ideal future?
Just when Cordelia’s future threatens to slip back into medieval quagmire, a lone stranger with ice blue eyes and flowing blond hair arrives from the savage north. The handsome barbarian is destined to make both the hearts of the empire and the princess tremble. Does this spell doom or salvation for the girl’s fragile dream?
Explore The Scion’s Delight, the fantasy romance prequel novella of The Mage Conspiracy series. Discover a world of adventure and intrigue where lies cut deeper than any sword.

Though there is some mild sexual content, it is hardly romantic because Cordelia simply is not made that way.  And that is just fine.

Review YA : A Crown of Flames (Dragonriders of Skala #3) by Pauline Creeden, Melinda R. Cordell

**spoilers**
This is the volume where love re-makes Dyrfinna's world. Ibn, the Iberian envoy to King Varinn's court, once had the same problem with his spell-singing that Dyrfinna has suffered from. As she recovers from a death blow delivered by the evil Nauma, healed of it miraculously by Gefjin and the magical roses, he shares his methods with her of affinity song.

There is a council of dragons, who reclaim their community powers from their long alliance with humans, for the good of the entire Earth. Then with the help of the gods, there manifests a solution to the imbalance of the dark powers, in the form of the flaming crowns.

You will be glad to know that Gefjin and Dyrfinna's sword friends Skeggi and Reyjna are not dead after all. And once all this is over, Dyrfinna resolves to have the most fun possible in her world! and it involves quite a lot of kissing.

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41056808-a-crown-of-flames

Review for Of Curse You Will (Womby's vol. 11) by Sarina Dorie

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2631566220

This is the volume where Clarissa and Thatch finally manage to 'make it work'. Yet it has to be for 'new adult' rather than YA simply because of the nature of their strain of magic. All his long life Thatch has had to deal with the practical disadvantages of the Red affinity. Clarissa's indefatigably loving nature refuses to leave this unsolved. Then when she uncovers a potential solution, the frigid heart of her potential helper also needs healing. It's a matter of life and death for them all, and has to remain hush-hush due to school rules!

You will get absurd chuckles over how the students interpret the strange situations in which they find their teachers, giving rise to truly tabloid-level rumors.

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2631566220

Review: Prince of Secrets and Shadows by CS Johnson

 

This YA historical thriller is set in the midst of an international underworld of spies and diplomats that our young heroine had no inkling of before volume 1. However, readers will have no problem stringing it all together even without familiarity because previous incidents are well explained.

There are two princes for Ella to handle, one who has chosen to listen to the people and one who has not; both are eager for her hand but for completely different reasons. She chose to follow her mother and grandmother into this world of intrigue following high ideals, but doubts that she's temperamentally suited to function in the constraints of the Order. Ella's personal choices have repercussions upon the the city of Prague and the entire known world, but in the end the highest of ideals require her to follow her own heart.

Nevertheless there is plenty of action and rescuing for her and her allies before her ultimate choice.
What is most wonderful is that however eccentric the characters, they are completely plausible and comprehensible, even the villains! And despite the happily ever after at the end, you know those villains will be brewing more mayhem in future installments. But I didn't have to suffer any 'cliff-hanger' unlike volume 1. Well done CS Johnson!

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41558316-prince-of-secrets-and-shadows

Review: A Light of Her Own by C Callaghan

This is a very evocative telling of life in 17th century Netherlands, for the female members of families in the Artists Guilds. Talent is not enough to merit training for Maria, though she shares a room with her father's female apprentice Judith Leyster. Both are already grown women in their twenties, but around them young painters have become masters at a younger age.
At last both of them take decisive steps into the world on their own, Judith taking illicit commissions to afford her master's fee, Maria traveling to Leiden is search of a missing Guild artifact. But the road forward is fraught with daily perils not encountered by the male artists. And despite managing to set up her own workshop and apprenticeships, Judith walks a fine line, one group demanding three times the talent, and the other chastising her for putting her art before ties of friends and family.
Even when she helps to save her dear friend Maria's life, Maria interprets it in a spirit of betrayal.

In the end, the first and only female master of the Haarlem School would give up painting for marriage to a fellow painter, using her energies to keep his books and only seldom turn out a canvas. Yet this was the age of expansion and the marriage was a happy one. Making history demanded stepping away from invisibility in order to pursue her ideal.
It was a good idea to contrast her achievement with the life of her good friend, since talent does not happen only to brothers and not to sisters. How a person handles being gifted when society is not encouraging is interesting too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J3GBLQ8

Helgaleena's review of Crimson Byte, by Ivana Skye (paranormal YA) OUT NOW

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2553787088

 Ivana Skye has invented a whole new sort of vampire in an entirely new world of the contemporary future, and it sucks a person in immediately so that you, too, are an immensely talented and conflicted young art student in the alternate future United States, trying to get over the wounds of growing up bullied.

It's a good thing that life keeps happening to us no matter what. In a dark movie theatre a perfectly gorgeous young vampire sits next to her and politely asks her for help because he's been spotted by a rival faction dating one of theirs, which he isn't supposed to do. And this eventually leads further into our heroine discovering that it is she herself who is the greatest obstacle to her own happiness and productivity.

And yes, there is a bite. But the entire book is suitable for all ages and enthralling as well.

Available for pre-order   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42195421-crimson-bite

OUT NOW   https://www.amazon.com/Crimson-Bite-Reverse-Romance-Vampires-ebook/dp/B07J3GBLQ8/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8