March 2012
16 posts
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Power Unbound by Nicole Murphy
Power Unbound, by Nicole Murphy, is the second book in the Dream of Asarlai trilogy. You can read my review for the first book, Secret Ones, here.
Where Secret Ones followed Maggie and Lucas, Power Unbound shifts to following Ione, Maggie’s best friend, and Stephen, a gadda who is about to sit for the highest test of power. Although there are a few scenes in Austin, Texas, most of this...
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Secret Ones by Nicole Murphy
Secret Ones is Nichole Murphy’s debut novel, published by Harper Voyager (Aus) in 2010. It’s a paranormal romance novel set in Ireland and rural New South Wales. Being a paranormal romance, rather than straight urban fantasy, the romantic plot line was significantly more prominent than what I usually read, which was an interesting change of pace.
The main character, Maggie, is one of...
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Aurealis Awards Shortlists announced →
It’s that exciting time of year when the finalists for the Aurealis Awards are announced. Congratulations to all the nominees! It’s a very exciting shortlist, with some great authors and books on it.
Especially interesting for me is the Fantasy Novel category. I’ve read all the books except Ember and Ash, which is on my TBR shelf and fairly high in my mental list of books to...
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Torn by Amanda Hocking
Torn is the second book in Amanda Hocking’s Trylle Trilogy. You can read my review of Switched, the first book, here.
Torn picks up the same day Switched left off. It carries on much in the same vein, except that instead of Wendy being new to the world of the Trylle and kept in the dark, she quickly learns more pieces of relevant back story. A few new characters are introduced, but the...
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““I didn’t think there were real trolls.” I furrowed my brown,...”
– Torn, Amanda Hocking (review)
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Switched by Amanda Hocking
For those of you that don’t keep up with book/publishing news (or that have been living under a bookless rock), Amanda Hocking is one of Amazon’s self-publishing success stories. She sold a pile of self-published Kindle ebooks on Amazon — enough to quit her day job — and then last year snagged a publishing contract with a traditional publisher (Pan Macmillan). They are re-releasing...
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The Rhesus Factor by Sonny Whitelaw
The Rhesus Factor by Sonny Whitelaw has been sitting on my harddrive for a few years, waiting for me to finally get around to reading it. The Australian Women Writers Challenge gave me the push I needed to pick it up. The Rhesus Factor can be downloaded as a free pdf from Whitelaw’s website (you have to click on the link in the left menu).
In essence, The Rhesus Factor is an eco-thriller....
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Australian Women Writers Reading and Reviewing...
For those of you keeping track, you may have noticed that my purple progress bar on the left has filled up all the way, which means I have reached one of my goals for the Australian Women Writers Challenge. Of course, I’m not going to stop here. For a start, my science fiction challenge is incomplete and for an end, I’m going to keep reading books by Australian women regardless, so I...
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Angel Arias by Marianne de Pierres
Angel Arias by Marianne de Pierres is the sequel to the excellent YA gothic novel Burn Bright. Here is the blurb for Burn Bright from the series website burnbright.com.au (that .au is important, by the way):
Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience...
amidstalloftheseflashingliights asked: I read Across the Universe by Beth Revis and I understand why you are hesitant to read the sequel A Million Suns but it is so much better and I can't wait to read the final book in the trilogy now.
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Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex
Thief of Lives, by Lucy Sussex is part of Twelfth Planet Press’s Twelve Planets collection. I have previously reviewed other Twelve Planets, Nightsiders by Sue Isles and Bad Power by Deborah Biaccotti.
Thief of Lives is a collection of four short stories without common setting. I have to admit, this collection was closer to literary realism than I usually read. Thematically, women are...
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Across the Universe by Beth Revis
I picked up Across the Universe by Beth Revis after hearing lots of good things about it. I suspect these high expectations contributed in part to my not enjoying it quite as much as I’d hoped I would.
The premise of the story is: a generation ship is being sent to another planetary system. It will take 300 years to get there so the colonists are cryogenically frozen for the duration. One...
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Timeless by Gail Carriger
Timeless is Gail Carriger’s fifth and final instalment in the Parasol Protectorate series and what a delightful read it has been. For those of you unfamiliar with the setting, the Parasol Protectorate series is set in a Victorian steampunk London (mostly) in a world openly populated by vampires, werewolves and ghosts (the supernatural). Alexia, the main character, is a preternatural which...
