Review: (preview) Wormwood

Content From: http://www.moonlitdreams.org/3/post/2011/08/wormwood-dh-nevins.html
8-01-2011

I NEVER do this! I NEVER give a review for a book that I haven't read from cover to cover, however; I am going to give you all a heads up about a book I think will be the next BIG thing! 

Wormwood is a post-apocalyptic novel by D.H. Nevins.
I happened across D.H. Nevins website thanks to Twitter. While I have perused many a websites and never been tempted to hang around long, I can safely say that Ms. Nevins held me captive for quite some time as I read through the first five chapters of her post apocalyptic tale, Wormwood. I read often, turning the pages of several books a week, and not since I picked up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, have I been so enraptured by what I was reading! Ms. Nevins writing is sheer genius, well thought out, extremely well written, and polished to perfection. I have been left ready to beg for the next few chapters, the rest of the story, and sorry for the fact that I will have to wait to finish this amazing bit of fiction! Wormwood is a book I want on my shelf, in my collection, to be able to pick up and return to on a whim, and I have only read the first five chapters! I can only imagine the impact the rest of the book will have!

Wormwood is slated for release in Sept. 2011. September is going to be an extraordinary month indeed!
Do yourself a favor and go read the first five chapters, then wait patiently with the rest of us as we queue up for that Sept. release!

Wormwood Website
The Publish Wormwood Facebook Group
D.H. Nevins' Twitter

Back of the Book options that the author is trying to decide on (you can give your opinion on her website):

Option One:

Tiamat and his brothers, a legion of one hundred Nephilim, have orders to send all humans on to their final judgment. Yet in a moment of weakness, Tiamat risks his life to rescue a hiker named Kali from the very destruction that he initiated—a choice that thrusts Kali from the safety of her world into the boundless hell of his.

Set across the landscape of a freshly devastated Earth, Wormwood follows the intertwined paths of the high-ranking, but tormented half-angel named Tiamat, and Kali, a woman who will do almost anything to survive—even if it means facing a devastating truth.

Option Two:
 I always believed that I was nothing special. Now, after The Cleansing, I am left to wander the wasted landscape alone. Yet I am continually tormented by one of the Nephilim—a half-angel named Tiamat—who claims that I must stay alive to fulfil some purpose.

He risked his life to rescue mine; a seemingly virtuous deed. It also appears as though every task Tiamat is ordered to carry out tears at his soul; but how can I know if that’s true? How can I trust him, if he’s the very one that destroyed this planet in the first place? 

Kali, thrust from the surety of her world into the boundless hell of Tiamat’s, must try to find a way to survive in the Earth’s vast, devastated landscape. Plagued by a legion of Nephilim bent on sending her on, she is forced to trust the one being that could prove to be her greatest enemy.

Review: Being

Content from: http://www.moonlitdreams.org/3/post/2011/07/being-by-tr-mousner.html
7-29-2011

Back of the Book: For elite extraterrestrial pilot EBN-Reyoz-X, awaiting rescue while hiding out in a trailer park is a grueling nightmare. She’s injured, lacks proper supplies and can’t blend in with the indigenous population because she’s seven feet tall and can’t control the trail of wildflowers blooming in the wake of her footsteps. She’s unprepared to begin sexual maturity in the alien land and when she develops feelings for Shale, the mute teenage boy next door, she’s convinced circumstances can get no worse.
Except rescue never comes and once word spreads that her touch holds miraculous healing abilities, EBN must find a way to fix her ship, evade capture by the United States Air Force and survive long enough to return home. 

I enjoyed EBN's story. It took me a little bit to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked. 
The author, T.R. Mousner, put a lot of thought into the other worlds that she describes in this book. Not only that, but her description of Erox (Earth) through an alien's eyes was pretty nifty too! The aliens have their own language, or more to the point their own words they use for things like miles/kilometers and solar cycles. It was a very creative addition to the story, however; I find too many fictional words to be slightly off-putting when I read. It slows me down, as I have to either interpret the meaning or remember what something was supposed to convey. While I hate being slowed down, I also understood their use. Despite my own personal pet peeve for fictional word usage, I found the story to be engaging, entertaining, and even educational.

This is not just another pretty and entertaining story, it also tackles several issues, from pollution and global warming to bullying, and they are seen both through human and alien eyes. It was interesting to see how someone not of our world would react to how we care (or don't care) for our planet and each other. T.R. Mousner did an excellent job looking from the outside in at our various human failings!

If you love Sci-fi/Fantasy books about alien invasions - buy this book! It is definitely a fresh take on the topic and one that you will enjoy reading. T.R. Mousner's imagination is obviously boundless,  so I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

You can find out more about T.R. Mousner and read some pretty interesting things on her blog!

Review: Wither

Content from: http://www.moonlitdreams.org/3/post/2011/07/wither-lauren-destefano.html
7-05-2011

Wither - Book one of The Chemical Gardens Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano

From the Book Jacket:
What if you knew exactly when you would die?
Thanks to modern science, every newborn has become a ticking genetic time bomb - males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.
When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and priviledge. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape - to find her twin brother and go home. 
But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

                                                                                ****

I've been wanting to read this book for some time and this week it was handed to me in a store - a present from a friend. I do love presents! So, of course as all children do with their new found toys, I ignored everything else until I was finished devouring this book. 

Wither is told from the first person perspective of Rhine Ellery. At 16 she is taken by the Gatherers and forced to become a wife, along with two other girls (ages 18 and 13). Throughout the story you hear what life was like for Rhine and her twin brother after their parents are killed and you begin to wonder if her new life - the one where she is kidnapped and forced to marry against her will - is actually better than the one she was living. You almost think that, and then through Rhine you realize everything in her new life is just an illusion and what lies beneath is too scary to contemplate. 

I was completely enamored with the characters and their plights. From the dying Rose to the little girl Cecily who wanted to be a wife and mother so bad to Jenna, the girl who simply waited to die, you are drawn into these characters through Rhine. They are the story as much as the main character is. Through them you understand what it must be like to be so young and yet nearing the end of your life span. 

The world Lauren DeStefano has created is so disturbing you want to look away, and yet you can't because you become invested in her characters. They are so real in their flaws, hopes, dreams, and despair. It's not just the characters themselves that captivate. It's the world with all its illusions and the seemingly broken planet that is possibly waiting for humanity to die off that draw you in and demand a little of your attention along the way too. This book simply leaves you at a point where you can be hopeful for some of the characters and at the same time wonder what if?

I am personally hoping that my "what ifs" are answered soon with the second book in the trilogy, Fever. Apparently, I will be waiting until February 2012 though. ~SIGH!

More information about The Chemical Gardens Trilogy can be obtained HERE!

Review: Corona

Content from: http://www.moonlitdreams.org/3/post/2011/06/corona-mj-heiser.html
6-24-2011

This is an amazing fantasy story that will draw you in and make you a part of the world of Jaenrye. While I had a little trouble getting into this book at first (due in part to many distractions outside the book), I stuck around long enough to be captivated by the story that was being told. The first thing that grips you about this book is the sheer volume of its cast. The characters themselves, while in large quantity, were not lacking in quality at all. As the words flowed from the pages I could feel the essence of each character as they were diligently described. Beyond the physical, their personalities shone through as if the Dim had never settled over Jaenrye, that is to say they burned brightly!

The descriptions of the world were painted as vividly as the characters were. I felt myself seated at the Crown and Staff in the town of Ellerdag talking to Jimbo as he pulled my ale from the tap. I sang with the Bohemians in Falcon's Cay as the bard played for them, and then... well you will have to immerse yourself in the book to find out what happens next, just know that M.J. Heiser is such a crafty writer you will experience every bit of this story right alongside her characters.

Aside from the interesting characters, Corona touches on creation in a unique way, reminiscent of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart series, but with its own twist. The themes of creation and belief that run throughout this book allow for an in depth look at the vast differences in beliefs that shadow our own world and how those views may affect the characters and their outcomes, thus making this story just as thought provoking as it was entertaining. 

When you find yourself ready for an adventure, settle down some place quiet and kick back with Corona. M.J. Heiserwill not disappoint you! When you reach the last pages of Corona and find yourself saddened that the end has come so fast, be heartened by the fact that more adventures await you with Canticle, the next book in The Chronicles of Jaenrye.

Review: An Apple For Zoe

Content from: http://www.moonlitdreams.org/3/post/2011/06/review-of-an-apple-for-zo.html
6-13-2011


I loved this story! It is truly unlike anything else out there right now. The author, Thomas Amo, has woven history with present day paranormal mystery in a superb thrill ride that keeps you guessing right up till the end and then beyond.

The story follows Inspector Thomas James from his first romance at age 14 through a series of bizarre murders that seem to be copy cats of some of the most notorious murders committed through history. At every turn in the case things seem to go from strange to beyond believable and just when the characters are questioning their sanity it gets worse!

This was an amazing, intense read that kept me wanting more and wondering where everything was going. There were points in the plot that were obvious, and at the same time those obvious plot points lead to something I totally didn't see coming.

An Apple For Zoë was a refreshingly interesting and totally different story than anything I have read in a long time. If you're looking for something new to break up the monotony of paranormal books that are all variations of the same thing then An Apple For Zoë is the book for you. I promise you, when you finish and put this book down you have a bazillion new questions going through your head while you wait, not so patiently, for the next book to come out!

And that's always a good thing!

*This review has been featured in The Indie Elf Gazette! 

Birthrights Reviewed!

Content from: http://www.moonlitdreams.org/moonlit-reviews.html

6-4-2011

I'm usually the one reviewing and screaming from the rooftops about my favorite books, so it was very cool to open my e-mail this morning and find someone else doing it for me! *HUGE HAPPY GRIN*

Before I bore you to tears with my own emotions, here is what Patria Dunn Rowe had to say about Birthrights!

Don’t you hate when you get to the end of a book, and you are so into it, that you find yourself checking to make sure there are no more pages to read!? This is what happened to me at the end of Birthrights. The extreme detail, and the vivid description of each character and creature ranging from Feys to Lycans to Weres to Vamps, and last but certainly not least in this story –Witches-, left me feeling like that author is indeed a witch herself –living among us in our human world-. How else could she have written so specifically about the many different powers that each of the character had, their way of life and the story behind it? *Shaking my head in awe*

In my mind, I was living the story with the two main characters –Caislyn and Jaxon-. I laughed with them through their discoveries, and my heart went out to them at their human like need to search for answers to what had happened to the both of them that brought them to the point in the book. By the end, I found my self wishing that the second book in this trilogy was already out so that I could keep on reading. I want more! More answers, more story, more Witches!

With so many books out here today focusing on the Vampire world, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the author –Christine Butler- incorporated ‘Vamps’ in such a way that they played more of a background role throughout. I, personally have never fallen in love with a Witch story like I did this one, and it has really opened my mind to wanting to check out more books like this.

I can only imagine what Caislyn and Jaxon have waiting for them in book 2 of the Awakening trilogy, and I’m anxiously waiting for its release in September 2011!

*Christine is doing the happy dance* Oh, well, now that you are done reading that glowing review - it's time to go buy my book and see for yourself.