Fight Like a Woman by J.S. Frankel

April 10, 2019 By 2 Comments


Fight Like a Woman by J.S. Frankel
Publisher: Regal Crest
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full Length (167 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Meet Kyle Sorton, teen, orphan, living a life of no purpose on a space station. Occupation: janitor. Future prospects: none. His only dream is to be someone.

Anyone will do.
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Wish granted–sort of. An accident aboard his space station forces his flight, and his ship crash lands on an unknown world. Mortally wounded, he uses an experimental healing device called a Clavator to transfer his consciousness to the body of an alien woman. When he awakens, he discovers that this woman not only has special abilities, but that parts of her consciousness still exist. Even more surprising to him is the fact that his new host, named Rinarra, is married to Merat, another woman. She is understandably upset over losing her wife, and initially rejects the new Rinnara.

Confusion reigns, and compounding his problem of understanding his new form is the existence of a hostile alien force known as the Droogs. Large, purple, and utterly evil, Droogs care not about any lives other than their own. Kyle, who slowly begins to not only identify as Rinnara but also to fall in love with Merat, decides to fight the invaders. Windeeri has become a home, and she’ll defend it, even at the cost of her own life.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

Kyle’s character development was quite well done. He’d already been through far more than his fair share of tragedy by the time the first scene of this story began, and he clearly hadn’t been able to process all of it either. It doesn’t quite feel right to say that I liked this about him because of how sad this part of his history was, but I sure did appreciate the fact that he was still a work in progress. His unresolved grief over the deaths of his parents made him feel like a real person to me. More than anything, I wanted him to find closure there and at least have the possibility of living happily ever after by the final scene.

The world building was phenomenal. There are many parts of it I can’t go into detail about without giving away spoilers, but I loved the way Mr. Frankel showed the audience what life was like for Kyle and other average humans in the distant future. Their utilitarian lives were a nice contrast to the less technologically advanced but friendlier society that Rinnara was from.

Gender identity is a complicated topic. One of the things I found most intriguing about this book was how it explored what it means to identify as a specific gender, especially since Kyle grew up in a society that had the same exact expectations for men as it did for women. This lack of gender stereotypes had a very interesting effect on how Kyle adjusted to living in a female body after his accident, and I appreciated all of the thought the author put into how this character would react to this sort of change.

I’ve read just about every book Mr. Frankel has written, and Fight Like a Woman is by far my favorite one so far. It’s something I’d heartily recommend to fans of the science fiction and young adult genres alike.

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

The Auctioneer by J.S. Frankel

April 8, 2019 By 2 Comments


The Auctioneer by J.S. Frankel
Publisher: Devine Destinies
Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Length: Full Length (247 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Matthew Carter, eighteen and orphaned recently due to the death of his father, continues on the family tradition of auctioneering. It is not his chosen profession, but one that is thrust upon him by circumstance.

Offered a chance to make some money by a man named Baltarus, Matthew reluctantly agrees, and to his surprise, ends up on an alien star-port where he auctions off rare items from all over the galaxy.

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Life is good, but all that changes when he becomes a target of unknown assassins. Additionally, he is forced to sell a planet named Volarus, something that goes against his conscience.

Matthew finds out there’s more to life than making money, and races against time to find a loophole in order to stop Volarus from being next on the bidding block, as well as finding out the faceless killers who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

How would you react to a job that forced you to do unethical things?

The romance subplot was handled beautifully. I was pleased with how naturally the relationship between Matthew and Anarra unfolded. They spent time genuinely getting to know each other as individuals first, and that’s always something I appreciate in this sort of storyline. It makes the thought of two characters possibly ending up together for good even sweeter in my opinion than it might otherwise be.

I would have liked to see more attention paid to the character development in this tale. Matthew was a fascinating guy who’d been through a lot in his short life. As interesting as it was to get to know him, I didn’t see the kinds of personal development in him I was expecting to find. He had plenty of opportunities to grow as a person. I simply needed to see more examples of him doing that during the course of his adventures.

Speaking of characters having adventures, though, this book was full of twists and turns. Once I started reading it, I had a hard time putting it down again until I knew how everything would turn out for the protagonist and all of the folks he met along the way. One of the things I enjoy the most about Mr. Frankel’s stories is how much action he packs into his plots, and this one was just as exciting as everything else he’s written so far.

The Auctioneer should be read by anyone who likes adventurous science fiction.

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

Dreaded Dinner Party by Destiny Henderson

February 26, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Dreaded Dinner Party by Destiny Henderson
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (213 pages)
Age Recommendation: 10+
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Who’s tired of her dinner party-throwing parents? Curi Andrews is.

But when a nasty couple tries to sabotage her parents’ party, Curi flips.

It’s up to Curi to stop them!

Of course, she’s going to eat some delicious food along the way.
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Who will help her? Maybe the mischievous traveler Mister Wolfeman or the ambitious Ophelia?

Unfortunately for Curi, sometimes, things still go up in flames.

You will love this debut middle-grade novel with diverse characters, light humor, and a home-schooled, strong female protagonist.

Some people don’t make good guests at parties at all.

There were quite a few characters, but I always had a pretty easy time of remembering who was who. Ms. Henderson did a good job of describing who everyone was, showing what their personalities were like, and giving them names that somehow seemed to fit each one of them perfectly. I enjoyed getting to know every single character, from Curi to the people in her life who only showed up occasionally.

It took me a while to figure out which age group would be the most appropriate recommendation for this story. Curi was the sort of child who spent a great deal of her time with adults listening to them talk. As a result, she overheard some things that most 10-year-olds wouldn’t think of. They were nothing that a child that age should be protected from or anything like that, just topics that tend to be more interesting to grown-ups. As much as I liked meeting a protagonist who truly liked listening to what adults have to say, this did make it a little tricky to decide who it was written for since other parts of the storyline seemed to be written for a much younger audience. This is a minor criticism of something I’m quite glad I read, but it would have been nice to have a clearer understanding of whether this was written for kids in late elementary, middle, or high school.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this tale were the close, loving relationships that all four of the Andrews had with each other. The parents were attentive and sensitive to their children’s needs. Curi’s relationship with her brother, Taveo, was also strong. They had rare and brief moments of annoyance that every family goes through, but most of their time together was a pleasant experience for everyone involved. I’ve read so many young adult books about kids who have major conflicts with their parents or siblings that it was incredibly refreshing to meet characters who have a peaceful home life. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of Ms. Henderson’s work based on this wholesome approach to the young adult genre alone!

Dreaded Dinner Party should be read by anyone who has ever felt bored at a dinner party.

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

Paul O’Leary: Trouble on the Farm by Michael Mardel

January 30, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Paul O’Leary: Trouble on the Farm by Michael Mardel
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (89 pages)
Age Recommendation: 10+
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Meet up with Paul as he has two moves, from the city to a farm. Join him in his one room school and his extra chores on the farm, mowing lots of grass and training his dog, Lassie, not to chase the sheep. He has a few dream adventures, including being a fireman as a real bushfire approaches. Will he be able to cope with the blaze?

It’s a great big place where Paul ends up with his dog and his parents. Lassie has to be corralled or there’s double trouble and the rest if she gets out and chases the sheep. His Grandad is one of the trouble shooters and is not averse to protecting his sheep. Maybe he’ll take Lassie on as a real sheep dog. He found out that the sheep go into a huddle when they’re threatened and not because the dog rounds them up.

Paul rode his bike to his one room school and he read from his Kindle when he had finished his work. He once went to a school mate’s place but all he wanted to do was play games.

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The last bit of trouble in paradise was a bushfire which are very extreme and some people leave their homes as they can’t defend them. Paul and his family decide to defend their two homes as Grandad had all the firefighting equipment.

There’s never a shortage of work to do when you live on a farm.

Paul was such a hard worker. He’d learned a lot about what it takes to keep a farm running from his dad, and he wasn’t afraid to pitch in to help make sure all of the chores were done every day. I liked this part of his personality quite a bit. His willingness to do whatever it took to help keep everything running smoothly made him seem like such a mature kid in a good way! What a great role model he was for his audience.

There were some pacing issues with the plot. Sometimes it moved so slowly that I had trouble staying interested, while in other scenes it had so much going on that it was hard to keep up. It would have been helpful for me as a reader if the pacing had been spread out more evenly so I always had something to keep my attention.

What a kind and loving family Paul had! While his parents and grandparents could be very protective of him sometimes, they were always acting in his best interests. It was nice to read about a character who was having such a happy childhood. This isn’t something I’ve seen being done very often in this genre these days, so it always stands out to me as something special when it does happen.

This is the second book in a series, but it can be read as a standalone work.

I’d recommend Paul O’Leary: Trouble on the Farm to anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to live on a farm.

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

Apidae by Lisa Borne Graves

January 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Apidae by Lisa Borne Graves
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Length: Full Length (152 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

What happens if bees go extinct?
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In the not so distant future, scientifically modified Emlyn and Ace find themselves thrown into the role of saviors on a perilous mission where their tenuous relationship could save or destroy mankind. As the war between rebels and the corrupt government reaches a fever pitch, Ace is bent on self-sacrifice and revenge, while Emlyn must choose between her heart and the future of mankind.

If humans want to survive, they’ll need to find a way to save the bees.

The premise of this book grabbed my attention immediately. I appreciated the fact that the author spent so much time coming up with logical ways in which human society would change, and even start to disintegrate, once the bees began dying off and food supplies ran dangerously low. She went into the perfect amount of detail about how crucial pollinators like these are for the ecosystem and how devastating it would be to lose or nearly lose them.

While I wanted the two characters who developed feelings for each other to end up together, their potential relationship felt out of place in this story. There were so many other things going on in it, many of which were time-sensitive and incredibly dangerous, that I was confused by the inclusion of the romantic subplot. It didn’t seem like something that either of the participants should have had much energy to think about when their lives were in danger and humanity itself could be going extinct. It would have been really helpful for there to have been more scenes establishing why these characters decided to pursue their feelings so quickly and how they found the time to do so in the middle of what was basically a war.

Emlyn felt like a real person to me, flaws and all. There were times when she said or did things that annoyed me, but then there would be other scenes where her quick thinking and bravery made me cheer. I loved the many nuances of her personality, especially the fact that a few of her weaknesses were things that actually affected the course of the plot. She was perfectly imperfect, and that’s exactly what I want to see in a main character.

Apidae was one of the most creative dystopias I’ve read recently, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys that genre.

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

Bernard Beagle Kicks Off by Daniel Murphy

January 28, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Bernard Beagle Kicks Off by Daniel Murphy
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (165 pages)
Age Recommendation: 10+
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Bernard Beagle dreams of playing soccer for his school team. There is just one problem – he is terrible at sports.

Cody Fisher, captain of the Bayview Primary Tidal Waves, is Bernard’s one-way ticket to the midfield.

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As Bernard pushes for qualification it becomes obvious – he’s going to need a lot more than Cody’s friendship to make the squad.

Do you have to be naturally athletic in order to be a good athlete?

The conflicts were handled nicely. Not only was there the perfect amount of it, each conflict was so different from the others that they played off of each other beautifully. This is something I’d be equally comfortable recommending to kids who love sports as I would to the ones who have no interest in that topic at all. There were so many other things going on in the storyline that I think this will appeal to all sorts of middle grade readers.

It would have been helpful to have more detailed descriptions of the characters and settings. I had a lot of trouble picturing what any of them looked like because of how few of these descriptions I had to work with. While I enjoyed the plot itself, I would have liked it even more if I could have formed mental images of these characters and the places where they spent their time.

The dialogue was well written. There wasn’t quite as much of it as I’d normally expect to see in a book of this length due to all of the time Bernard and his friends spent playing soccer, but that was a good thing. Of course they’d be too busy and possibly out of breath to talk during their practices and games! It only made sense, and I liked the fact that the author seemed to take this into account when he was writing those scenes. When characters did talk to each other, I enjoyed the fact that the voices of the adults and kids were so distinct. Just like in real life, the way a grown-up in this universe spoke generally wasn’t exactly the same as how the main character would say it.

Bernard Beagle Kicks Off should be read by sports fans of all ages.

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

Smoke & Mirrors by Eli Celata

January 21, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Smoke & Mirrors by Eli Celata
Publisher: Hidden Helm Press
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (246 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Death has come to Rochester. Saving the the lost children of Hamelin unleashes the most ruthless enemy Jon has ever faced. Blood saturates his nights, and demons stalk his every step. He might’ve gotten the children out of Shiloh’s void, but he put them in the cross-hairs of an old grudge.

When a trio of Daughters brings their kill list into the Grith, magic users turn against one another. Allies become enemies. Safety counterbalances freedom, and everyone wants a piece of Jon.

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Whether magic is used for good or evil depends on who is performing the spell.

Just like in earlier installments, I was blown away by the world building. Mr. Celata did an excellent job of creating a setting for his characters that feels every bit as real as our world. I could have sworn that I was seeing, hearing, and feeling the same things Jon was as he attempted to protect the children and keep his community from breaking out into war. There was so much attention to detail in these matters that I didn’t want to stop reading until I knew how it would all end for him.

At times I found it hard to keep track of the large cast of characters. It would have been quite helpful to either have a brief recap of who everyone was in the first chapter or to have a list of characters I could reference as I was reading. I’m saying this as someone who has really been enjoying this series so far. If not for my confusion about how everyone knew each other and who they were, I would have happily chosen a much higher rating for this tale. Everything else about it was fantastic.

One of the things I love about this universe is how complicated the rules of magic are in it. I still haven’t figured out all of them, but honestly I don’t think the audience is supposed to quite yet since many of the characters have had similar reactions to the complexity of them all. The author is playing the long game here, and I’m quite curious to see how it will all pan out in the end.

This is the third book in a series. I’d recommend finishing the first two installments, High Summons and Grimm Remains, before diving into this one.

Smoke & Mirrors should be read by anyone who loves wizards or the dark side of the urban fantasy genre.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Fury’s Island by Sue Perkins

January 17, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Fury’s Island by Sue Perkins
Fury Series Book 2
Publisher: Caishel Books
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (101 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

On holiday in Nelson, New Zealand, Fury meets Eion who offers to teach her to paddle board. Immediately attracted to him, she agrees. After basic instruction, he takes her out to Skull Island, a creepy looking rock some distance from the beach. No one has ever discovered a way up to the caves which look like eyes, but Fury finds a secret entrance and convinces Eion they should investigate. Their excitement rises as they discover tunnels and caves hidden beneath the ground, but neither is prepared for the arrival of ghostly pirates bringing their treasure chests to bury in one of the underground caves.

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There was a fabulous plot twist that I didn’t see coming in advance. It had to do with the ghosts that Fury and Eion met in the cave after they’d visited it multiple times. While I can’t go into details about this portion of the storyline, I gasped out loud when I realized that some of my assumptions about those entities had been totally wrong. Ms. Perkins did an excellent job of both keeping this surprise hidden and revealing it at exactly the right moment.

Fury’s unusual behavior made it tricky for me to choose an age recommendation for this tale. She was sixteen years old in this sequel, but she behaved like someone much younger than her chronological age.This was especially noticeable when it came to her sometimes odd interactions with others. For example, she had lots of trouble noticing when someone was flirting with her and she misinterpreted what her mother was saying to her on more than one occasion. I’m still not sure if she was specifically written to be a neurodivergent character or if she was simply a little quirky. If the author wanted the audience to think of her as someone who might have medical reasons for her troubles with social cues, I sure wish there had been more hints about that! I was fascinated by this part of her personality while also being confused as to whether I was actually supposed to be labelling her at all.

I loved the fact that it took a long time for anything paranormal to happen in this tale. There was so much else going on in Fury’s life that it made total sense for the spirits to stay out of sight until later on in the plot. This also gave me the opportunity to get to know her even better than I did the first time I met her. I relished the opportunity to see how she’d changed over time and how she’d react to spending her summer vacation in a place that she never would have chosen on her own.

This is the second book in a series. It can be read on its own or out of order.

Fury’s Island should be read by anyone who enjoys ghost stories.

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

Fury’s Ghost by Sue Perkins

January 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment


Fury’s Ghost by Sue Perkins
Publisher: Caishel Books
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (114 pages)
Age Recommendation: 12+
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Fury’s family leave the city for a six month visit to rural New Zealand. They stay in an old house belonging to her mother’s family, but who is the ghostly figure in a hidden attic room and why is Fury the only one who can see her? She learns the ghost is the spirit of the original owner who has been trapped in the room for one hundred years.

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The afterlife isn’t always a peaceful place.

At first I wasn’t sure if this tale was meant to be set in the past or the present. Eventually, I did make up my mind about this question, but I liked the fact that the storyline focused on all of the timeless elements of being a twelve-year-old whose family has just moved into a haunted house. Fury could have just as easily lived several decades ago and it wouldn’t have changed much about her adventures at all. There’s definitely something to be said for characters and plots that aren’t tied down to one specific era. This could be a modern-day classic in the making!

I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to character development. Fury went through some pretty memorable and spooky experiences, so I was surprised by how quickly she adapted to the idea that ghosts exists and that there was one living in her house. If a bit more attention had been paid to how she made that mental leap, I would have given this book a five star rating. Everything else about it was well done.

The plot related to who the ghost was and how she died was handled nicely. While I obviously can’t go into a lot of detail about it without giving away spoilers, I liked the fact that Fury had barely any information at all about this character in the beginning. Her lack of knowledge only made me more curious to find out who the spirit had been in life and why they’d hung around for so long.

Anyone who enjoys paranormal fiction should give Fury’s Ghost a try.

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Burning Britely by Deidre Huesman

November 15, 2018 By Leave a Comment


Burning Britely by Deidre Huesman
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (121 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

With Jeff Young’s fantastic grades, he should be a great tutor. But he’s terrible with human interaction. “You’re an asshole,” is not a unique phrase to him. Jeff’s all right with that. His past proves most people are assholes.

Even with his reputation, he takes it too far when he uses a textbook to save the track star, Braeden, from a goose attack. Braeden is everything Jeff is not. Tall. Charming. Has 20/20 vision. And would never, ever wipe his mouth after a girl kisses him.
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Braeden insists on getting to know Jeff. Jeff vacillates between wanting to know him and wanting to punch him in the mouth. Then he discovers the darkness rippling beneath Braeden’s deceptively easy-going persona. As Braeden confides his secrets, Jeff does the one thing that’s socially suicidal:

He falls in love with the very popular, very straight Braeden Britely.

Not every problem comes with an easy solution.

Jeff was a complex and intriguing character. There were times when I was annoyed by his flaws, but that was actually a good thing. He felt like a real person to me because of them. His behavior did have a negative effect on people in certain scenes, but there were other instances where his strengths brought out the best in him. I enjoyed seeing him from so many different angles as he showed off the full range of his personality.

It would have been helpful to have more time spent developing Jeff and Braeden’s relationship. I loved the idea of them as a couple, but there wasn’t quite enough flirtation between the two of them to give me hope that they might end up together. Instead, they danced around the topic for longer than I would have liked to see. If there had been more romance in the plot, I would have chosen a much higher rating than the already good one I picked for this book.

The subplots complemented the main storyline nicely, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much was going on with the characters in this book in general. Not only was Jeff dealing with multiple problems, so were the people he spent the most time with as well. Ms. Huesman balanced out all of their conflicts beautifully, though. The pacing was consistently strong and there was always plenty of space to explain the newest developments in everyone’s lives.

I’d recommend Burning Britely to anyone who has ever seen a bad habit get the best of them.

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