About Cherry Mischievous » Contact »

Sunday, 5 March 2023

SPELL HOUND


Spell Hound by Lindsay Buroker
Book 2 in the Witch In Wolf Wood series
Narrated by Vivienne Leheny
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobookAudiobook


About Spell Hound:
Since Morgen Keller arrived in the small town of Bellrock, she’s learned that magic is real, fought battles with werewolves, and managed to turn the local witches into enemies. As an introverted database programmer, she’s not equipped to handle any of this.

Fortunately, she has an ally: the fearsome werewolf Amar.

Unfortunately, one of the witches branded him and can take control of him whenever she wishes.

To have a chance of freeing her werewolf ally, Morgen must learn to harness the power she inherited from her grandmother. She may also have to find a familiar, confront a powerful witch, and admit that she has feelings for Amar. What could go wrong?
Source: Info in the "About Spell Hound" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58985740-spell-hound on 18/04/2022.

Buy Link(s):
  Audible Books


Zorro

[Image Credit:
Peter Walkden
Accessed: 19/04/2022]
My Thoughts:
It is only while reading book 2 that the thought occurred to me... why did grandma not warded her property? Maybe because she thought she was too strong or at least strong enough to combat enemies in her own grounds? It did not seem to stop poachers from stealing the glowing mushrooms in her property... Or was grandma happy to share with others what was growing in her property? That does not seem to be the case judging by what Amar is saying about him being a protector of Wolf Wood... Things don't add up here. But these inconsistencies are very easy to willfully ignore, seeing that the book is giving me enjoyable reading time.

The ending is still a cliffhanger but also closed the dilemma in the book quite nicely. I appreciated that given this author's fondness for leaving threads hanging for endings.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 5
Pace = (7 hrs and 50 mins listening time)
Plot = 3
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Witch In Wolf Wood Series:
Book 1: MIND OVER MAGIC Book 2: SPELL HOUND Book 3: ANY WITCH WAY Book 3.5: HOOT AND HOWLER Book 4: MOMENT OF TOOTH Book 5: CHARMED AND DANGEROUS

 
Meet The Author

About Lindsay Buroker:
Full-time indie fantasy/scifi author who loves hiking, tennis, and vizslas.


The Narrator

About Vivienne Leheny:
For over two decades, Vivienne Leheny has worked professionally in New York City and Los Angeles as an actor, voiceover artist and writer. She’s appeared on Off-Broadway and regional theatre stages, been screened at numerous film festivals (including Sundance in the 2019 opening night film: AFTER THE WEDDING), toured the northeast doing stand-up, and her writing has been published in national publications.

Vivienne has built a successful audiobook narration business, reading under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms, “Nola Zandry” and “Lily Collingwood.” She has a home studio and records using punch & roll software. Currently narrating six ongoing series, she also has numerous stand-alone book narrations, all of which are doing brisk sales on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. She’s narrated titles for Harper Collins, Macmillan, Recorded Books, and Simon & Schuster, among other audiobook publishers.

Vivienne will soon be recording her 150th audiobook narration.

Her audiobook narration course, The Voice in their Ear, has been a sell-out Maine Media Workshops+College, where she’s also taught her Putting Your Voice to Work: Building a Career in Voiceover curriculum, while her Breaking Into Audiobooks seminar for the SAG Foundation fills up quickly and with long wait lists. She’s also taught audiobook narration at the Caymichael Patten Studio.

She’s recorded over a thousand promotions for NBC programming (Saturday Night Live, Nightly News, Days of our Lives, Late Night with Conan O’Brien), including over a decade with The Today Show. She’s also done promotional spots for HBO, Showtime, and Bravo. Vivienne has voiced numerous national commercial campaigns, including Coca Cola, Fruit of the Loom, Florida Orange Juice, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Maxwell House and Revlon.

Her narration work has run the gamut, from Chain Gang Girls on Oxygen to Charles and Di: Once Upon a Time on TLC, from Fine Living’s Esquire’s Man at His Best to the six-part series Killer Outbreaks on Animal Planet, where she was the voice of the Bubonic Plague and West Nile Virus. She’s also the voice for the mysterious and disturbing “Phoenix Project” in the popular video game Assassin’s Creed, Unity.



FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Sunday, 5 February 2023

FURY FRAYED

Fury Frayed by Melissa Haag
Book 1 of the Of Fates and Furies series
Genre: YA | urban fantasy
Format: ebook


About Fury Frayed:
Megan’s temper lands her in Girderon Academy, an exclusive school founded in a town of misfit supernatural creatures. It’s the one place she should be able to fit in, but she can’t. Instead, she itches to punch the smug sheriff in his face, pull the hair from a pack of territorial blondes, and kiss the smile off the shy boy’s face. Unfortunately, she can’t do any of that, either, because humans are dying and all clues point to her.

With Megan’s temper flaring, time to find the real killer and clear her name is running out. As much as she wants to return to her own life, she needs to embrace who and what she is. It’s the only way to find and punish the creature responsible.
Source: Info in the About Fury Frayed was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42287045-fury-frayed on 17/08/2019.

My Thoughts:
Promising start to a new-to-me series.

This book is all about introducing Megan, our main protagonist, and her burgeoning powers to the world of urban fantasy readers... Angst. Teen rivalry. Love interest... Megan, in all her glory, mistakes and all, has her heart in the right place. So I'm okay with that, even though there isn't much of a plot. There is also the way the story was told, which is really good, that makes this book an enjoyable read!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 4
Plot = 3

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Of Fates and Furies Series:




Meet The Author

About Melissa Haag:
I love to write! Sharing the worlds I've created is beyond amazing . Want to read a book for free? Check out my website at:
http://melissahaag.com/free-ebook

Connect with me on:
https://twitter.com/MelissaHaag
https://www.facebook.com/author.MelissaHaag

I also write adult books under the pen name M.J. Haag. Happy reading!



FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Thursday, 19 January 2023

JULIE


Julie by Sherry Foster
Book 4 in the Safe Haven Wolves series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook


About Julie:
The rescue is only the beginning.

Being rescued from an illegal prison doesn't mean life will suddenly be better for the female shifters. For Julie, the terror hasn't ended. It lives in her mind every minute of every day. She can't help others help her unless she gets past the block her mind has created. But no one can help her if they don't know about the block. Is she destined to live the rest of her life in a hell not of her making? Grab your copy and find out what happens when the female rescued has no way of telling anyone what is wrong.
Source: Info in the About Julie was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43584355-julie on 03/11/2019.

My Thoughts:
The cover... why does Edward has such a big nose?!

There are some holes in the plot. But, this is urban fantasy, not crime fiction. There is a bit of a wiggle room when it comes to plot. I tend to be a little bit more tolerant with plot holes with fantasy stories. Specially if the story is told well, which this book is! But, I still wish that there weren't, though. With the last three books, the women were bad-ass. This one, not so much... However, the story is still good! With the introduction of witches and other elements in the previous book, the story arch for this series took on another interesting turn. Plus other twists to the story. They are not really "a surprise" because I can guess what it was a mile away, but I like the twists anyway. This series just gets interesting all the time! For 119 pages long, this book is another short and sweet wolf shifter read!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 3.5
Pace = 5
Plot = 4
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Meet The Author

About Sherry Foster:
Sherry fell in love with reading when she was young and never lost her love of words on a page. She enjoys fantasy and science fiction along with a few other genres. She has two grown children and eight grandchildren who keep her on her toes.

She writes fantasy but has plans to branch out into other genres eventually.




FTC Disclosure:
The different formats of this book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Thursday, 5 January 2023

WOLF CLAIMED


Wolf Claimed by Kellie McAllen
Book 1 of the Supernatural Sancturay series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook


About Wolf Claimed:
He’s forbidden fruit with a supernatural secret. She’s a prize he’s compelled to claim.

For as long as she can remember, Luna has been warned by her father to stay away from Nikko, his family, and his sinister gang of friends. But with her father away, Luna can’t resist temptation any longer.

The most thrilling night of her life becomes the most horrifying when Luna turns into a werewolf, and Nikko does, too. Nikko knows the first she-wolf in generations is a prize that will guarantee his position in the pack, so he claims Luna as his mate against her will.

When Luna is thrust into the middle of a pack war that puts everyone she loves at risk, can she find a way to save her family and her pack without sacrificing her freedom?
Source: Info in the About Wolf Claimed was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44076066-wolf-claimed on 24/08/2019.

My Thoughts:
This book got picked up because I am apparently a newsletter subscriber of this author. I must have entered a giveaway. Anyway, the cover art in my inbox intrigued me and I followed links. At first I just downloaded a sample. Then I bought the book. Now I have also bought the second book in the series. This is my first Kellie McAllen read and I like the way she tells a story. However, I did not like the way the main character acts just a hair this side of stupid. But this is an urban fantasy book with werewolves and magic in it, so the fantasy geek in me puts up with it and hopes that it gets better with the next book in the series. Being the first book, this is also the introduction to the Supernatural Sancturay series at the same time a story of self-discovery and emerging powers.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 3.5
Story itself = 3.5
Writing Style = 3.5
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 3.5
Plot = 3.5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Supernatural Sancturay Series:


Meet The Author

About Kellie McAllen:
Kellie McAllen is a USA Today Bestselling author who has her nose in a book whenever she can. When she's not reading or writing, she's usually hanging out at the beach, guest judging on DWTS (from her living room), or watching cute cat videos. She lives in North Carolina.




FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

 
Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog