The Colonel and the Bee by Patrick Canning

December 18, 2018 By Leave a Comment


The Colonel and the Bee by Patrick Canning
Publisher: Evolved Publishing
Genre: Action/Adventure, Historical, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Suspense/Mystery, YA
Length: Full Length (279 pgs)
Age Recommendation: 12+
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Aloe

A peculiar explorer and downtrodden acrobat span the globe on a building-sized hot air balloon, in search of a precious artifact and the murderous treasure hunter who seeks it.

WINNER: Pinnacle Book Achievement Award – Summer 2018 – Best Adventure

Beatrix, a spirited but abused acrobat in a traveling circus, seeks more than her prison-like employment offers. More than anything, she wants to know her place in the world of the halcyon 19th century, a time when the last dark corners of the map were being sketched out and travel still possessed a kind of magic.

One night in Switzerland, the mysterious Colonel James Bacchus attends Beatrix’s show. This larger-than-life English gentleman, reputed to have a voracious appetite for female conquests, is most notable for traveling the world in a four-story hot air balloon called The Ox.
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Beatrix flees that night to join the Colonel, and the two of them make a narrow escape—Beatrix from her abusive ringleader, the Colonel from a freshly-made cuckold. Beatrix, feeling the Colonel may have the answers to her problems, pledges to help him catch the criminal he seeks in exchange for passage on his magnificent balloon.

The criminal seeks a precious figurine, The Blue Star Sphinx, but he’s not alone. The Sphinx’s immense value has also drawn the attention of the world’s most deadly treasure hunters. A murder in Antwerp begins a path of mystery that leads all the way to the most isolated island on Earth.

What dangers await the Colonel and the acrobat?

Beatrix is an orphan who works as a trapeze artist in the circus. She performs over bare ground to make it more dangerous. Her boss uses a whip to punish any employee that acts out or gets mouthy. She gets her fair share of correction because she talks back to him. But one night she sees an Englishman at the show and finds out he rides around in a hot air balloon. She likes the trapeze because it reminds her of flying. Imagine what it would be like to ride in a hot air balloon!

Beatrix begs to ride on the hot air balloon. She wants to escape the circus. The Colonel refuses but when she offers to help him find the criminal he’s hunting he finally decides he’ll take her. He doesn’t intend to keep her long.

It’s a four-story hot air balloon. He soon teaches her how to fly and manipulate the balloon. She’s not real good at it, but she learns to stay afloat. The only thing she doesn’t like about the Colonel is that he’s a womanizer. Every time they stop somewhere he’s out looking for a woman.

She meets the other members of his team and they all become friends. They’re looking for the mysterious Christopher and he’s hard to find. Bee doesn’t know but the Colonel has more secrets. It’s a good thing she had acrobat training. It’s the only thing that keeps her alive…

Mr. Canning writes a very good story. It starts with a fast pace and that lasts the whole story. There’s plenty of danger, lots of excitement, and two unlikely characters become a team. There’s not a boring part in this story. The story flows well and you almost think you’re losing a character or two but not to worry. It ends unusually but happily.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Stuff of Stars by David Litwack

October 3, 2016 By 24 Comments

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The Stuff of Stars by David Litwack
Publisher: Evolved Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full (240 pages)
Rating: 4 stars
Review by: Rose

Book 2 of The Seekers series continues the story started in the critically-acclaimed, multiple award-winning The Children of Darkness.

Against all odds, Orah and Nathaniel have found the keep and revealed the truth about the darkness, initiating what they hoped would be a new age of enlightenment. But the people were more set in their ways than anticipated, and a faction of vicars whispered in their ears, urging a return to traditional ways.

Desperate to keep their movement alive, Orah and Nathaniel cross the ocean to seek the living descendants of the keepmasters’ kin. Those they find on the distant shore are both more and less advanced than expected.
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The seekers become caught between the two sides, and face the challenge of bringing them together to make a better world. The prize: a chance to bring home miracles and a more promising future for their people. But if they fail this time, they risk not a stoning but losing themselves in the twilight of a never-ending dream.

I am very excited to discover a new author! This book is the second book of the series, but it can be read on its own—however, there appears to be background that might make the story a bit more interesting. If you’ve not read the first in the series, though, you won’t be lost—I wasn’t. However, I have bought the first book just because I want to know what happened. I enjoyed this book that much. And, I’m looking forward to next month when the last book of the trilogy is released.

Orah and Nathaniel have left their home to find the descendants of the keepmasters’ in the hope that they can return home to help their own land with what they learn. The story starts off with a bang…with Orah washed up on shore and having no idea where Nathaniel is or if he lives.

Soon they discover, to their dismay, that things on this side of the ocean is not at all what they expected and hoped for.

I really liked these characters—they are a young married couple and try to do the best they can in a touch situation. The land they have discovered has been divided into two groups and it’s very interesting to watch Orah and Nathaniel as they interact with each group.

The book is an easy read and moves quickly—so quickly I didn’t want to put the book down to do anything else! I got involved in the action and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the adults in the city and just wanted to find out what happened!

I can hardly wait until book three to find out what happens when Orah and Nathaniel return to Little Pond with what they have discovered and learned in this book.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , ,

Desert Rice by Angela Scott

March 25, 2013 By 8 Comments

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Desert Rice by Angela Scott
Publisher: Evolved Publishing (206 pgs)
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Length: Full
Age Recommendation: 16+
Rated: 5 Stars
Review by Poppy

Samantha Jean Haggert is a beautiful twelve-year-old girl, but no one knows it. All they see is an awkward boy in a baseball cap and baggy pants. Sam’s not thrilled with the idea of hiding her identity, but it’s all part of her brother’s plan to keep Sam safe from male attention and hidden from the law. 15-year-old Jacob will stop at nothing to protect his sister, including concealing the death of the one person who should have protected them in the first place–their mother.

Sam and Jacob try to outrun their past by stealing the family car and traveling from West Virginia to Arizona, but the adult world proves mighty difficult to navigate, especially for two kids on their own. Trusting adults has never been an option; no adult has ever given them a good reason. But when Sam meets “Jesus”–who smells an awful lot like a horse–in the park, life takes a different turn. He saved her once, and may be willing to save Sam and her brother again, if only they admit what took place that fateful day in West Virginia. The problem? Sam doesn’t remember, and Jacob isn’t talking.

Stunning. Disturbing. Touching.  Raw.

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They aren’t always the most endearing of people. They do things that are frustrating, dishonest, and heart-rending. But they always love each other, and they always determine to make a life for themselves. Jacob’s first and only real goal in life it to take care of his sister. As we learn the truth of what happened, we understand what drives him so frantically to keep her safe.

Sam doesn’t remember what happened to put them in the place where they are. And she’s remarkably typical for a girl her age, except that she’s dressing and acting as a teenaged boy. No punches are pulled in this book; there is language, graphic situations and more. Even something like Sam’s first period are described so clearly I was cramping up right there with her.

Thankfully, all is not bleak here. Eventually they meet a good-hearted man and his girlfriend who take them under their wings, but even that doesn’t go smoothly.

This isn’t a book for light reading. It’s one you will think about long after you finish and wonder if this is how it truly is for some kids out there. It’ll make you grateful for your rather normal life and will cause you to count your blessings, no matter how small.

Reading Desert Rice is a life-changing experience and I’m glad I was able to read it.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Silver Sphere by Michael Dadich

January 4, 2013 By 8 Comments

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The Silver Sphere by Michael Dadich
Publisher: Evolved Publishing
Genre: Fantasy
Length: Full (182 pgs)
Age recommendation: 14+
Rating: 4 Stars
Review by Rose

Shelby Pardow never imagined she could kill someone. All she wants to do is hide from her troubled father… when she is teleported to awaiting soldiers on the planet Azimuth. Here she is not a child, but Kin to one of the six Aulic Assembly members whom Malefic Cacoethes has drugged and imprisoned. He seeks to become dictator of this world (and then Earth by proxy).

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Can Shelby find the other Kin, and develop courage and combat skills? Can the Kin reassemble in time to release or replace the Assembly, overthrowing Malefic and restraining Biskara?

High school kids transported to another world through magical portals, joining together to save the world… what’s not to love?

There are many good things to like about The Silver Sphere. The author wastes no time in jumping right into the action–from the first line of “Your world will be over soon, won’t it, dear Bianca?” to the last line that hints at another volume in the series to come–the book doesn’t slow down. The chapters are short (averaging around 3 pages per chapter) and the action is frequently breath-taking.

The book has multiple POV characters, but–as each chapter features one–it’s not difficult to keep up with them. The one drawback to this story is the fact that not all of the characters are seen as much as they should have been. Hopes are, since this is the first book of the series, later books will be able to feature more of these characters.

Recommended for fans of the fantasy genre teens and up! I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

Torn Together by Emlyn Chand

October 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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Torn Together by Emlyn Chand
Publisher: Evolved Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length:  Full (256 pgs)
Heat: Spicy
Rated: 4 Stars
Review by Poppy

From her cheating boyfriend to her dead father and cold, judgmental mother, Daly knows she can’t trust others to be there when it counts. This cynicism begins to melt away when she meets Kashi, a light-hearted charmer from India, who decides he cares too much to let her fade into the background of her own life. After a series of false starts, their quirky romance carries them to India, where Daly must win the approval of Kashi’s family in order to seal their “forever.”

Meanwhile, Laine struggles to cope with the pain of early widowhood, fleeing into the pages of her well-worn library and emerging only to perform her duties as a social worker at the crisis pregnancy center. Although her daughter wants nothing more than to work as an artist, Laine doesn’t know how to redirect Daly to a more suitable profession without further damaging their tenuous relationship.

Can Laine look past her pain to learn from an unlikely mentor? Has Daly finally found someone whom she can trust? Will the women recognize their common bonds before the relationship is broken beyond repair?

“Torn Together,” Emlyn Chand’s first sojourn into Literary/Women’s Fiction, illustrates how our similarities often drive us apart.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this book, which is a good thing, I think.  I didn’t have any preconceived notions and simply accepted it for what it was, not what I wanted it to be.

Full of emotion, and sure to make you laugh and cry, Torn Together is truly a book about a journey.  Though the blurb makes it sound as though we follow two women, this is really Daly’s story.  Her mother, Laine, figures into it, certainly, but it’s only as a secondary character.  It’s Daly who matters and who we become completely involved with.

Ms. Chand is a talented author who writes with feeling and description.  I became immersed in the story immediately, and had no problem completely connecting with the characters.  I admit to being a little annoyed with Daly in the beginning, and thought she was a little overly emotional, and did some things many women wouldn’t (like accepting a ride home from a man she really didn’t even know), but she was a real character. So was Kashi. What a wonderful man: full of life, joy and love.  Almost too good to be true, but the perfect person for Daly.  I loved seeing how he drew her out and made her a better person.

That I was so involved with these characters, from the most important to the least, is what made this book both an engrossing read and a difficult one.  In truth, it didn’t end the way I would have liked but I understand why Ms. Chand wrote what she did.  This was, as noted, a journey for Daly, and in order for it to complete, for the wounds to heal and the ends to be tied, there was no other ending for this story.  I won’t say I was happy, but I will say I understood and that I laughed, cried and loved right along with the characters. For many readers, the ending will be exactly right.  This is an author with true talent and one I hope to read again.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , ,