LeRoux Manor is a standalone paranormal horror novel, written by Liz Butcher and was published in 2020. LeRoux Manor is the most recent novel that Butcher has had published. The novel focuses on a young teenage girl, Camille, who has travelled with her family from Australia over to cold, foggy England to claim an old manor house that her recluse of an uncle left to her father in his will. The premise is indeed a creepy one: old Victorian building, girl feeling lost in another country, and regarding the house – there’s something wrong with it, something very wrong. The cover helps set the scene of a beautiful Victorian building, but we can see that it’s very old and there’s something unsettling about the image. It gives the book the unnerving atmosphere that we see in mainstream horror novels.
‘Clariel’ is written by Garth Nix and was published in 2014, being number 4 in the bestselling Old Kingdom Series. It surrounds the world of the Old Kingdom, focusing on a young girl who is coming of age: Clariel. She is the daughter of a highly respected Goldsmith family in the city Belisaere, which is situated north east of the Old Kingdom surrounded by the Sea of Saere. It is clear from the onset, that Clariel has one main ambition in life: to become a Borderer and live in the Great Forest, not having to interact with people and living life the way she wants to. However, her mother will not allow it. A nice touch to the opening of the book is a map from a birds-eye view of Belisaere and The Old Kingdom, to help readers imagine the location in their mind as well as beautiful artwork on the front cover.
‘The Witching Vault’ was written by Kathrin Hutson, International Bestselling Author, and was published in December 2020. I received this copy for free for an unbiased review. The Witching Vault is a contemporary fantasy that deals with a troublemaker-gone-good protagonist who is a witch, looking for a better life but stumbles upon something that is bigger than herself.
‘You Are Invited’ was written in 2020 by Sarah A. Denzil, who is an independent author who self published this piece of work. The frontispiece pages shows the author’s current work as well as an excerpt from a translation from a diary that inspired this novel. I received this book for free to provide an honest and unbiased review here.
‘Travelers’ was a full-length novel, book one of the ‘Nel Bentley Series’. I received this book on Kindle for free for an honest and unbiased review. We see that this book was self-published in 2016, the cover is attractive and shows an award the author won from the ‘Readers Favourite‘ and it won 5*, this is endorsed on their website, and they show the book with the sticker on the cover. The sticker is downloadable from their website to input into a website, but without their authorisation that individual would not be endorsed by ‘Readers Favourite’, which could affect an author’s reputation.
This book is a short story, a novella showing a prologue to that of the first in the StarsEdge series, designed to allow the reader to sink their teeth into the meat of the series. I received this book for free, in return for an honest, unbiased review.
This book was written by Sharon E. Turner, an independent author, in 2018 and has on the inside pages a well-designed coat of arms, depicting the Kingdom of Durundal, which is then followed up by Turner’s other works in this series. I received this book for free, to write an honest, unbiased review.
I was given an ARC version of the second installment of The Pearl Wielder Trilogy by Hannah Reed, for an honest review. Essentia was published in 2020, as part 2 of the Pearl Wielder Trilogy which you can check out updates on Hannah’s Instagram page @Hannah.Reads!
Hello readers, hope you’re all well and keeping safe? I’ve been keeping busy and have finished another book: Tenebrasco – Part 1 of the Pearl Wielder Trilogy by Hannah Reed. So here is the comprehensive review…
Alter Ego, by Kate Sheeran Swed, is an urban superhero novel, with the heroes and heroines described as Independent Operatives (IO), famous and popular with the people! The story follows the secretive life of Mary O’Sullivan, who has an alter ego, her struggles at keeping her identity a secret and keeping the public safe from enemy #1: Mange, who has a hot temper!
I was a little sad I started this on my Kindle, I would have liked to buy the paperback version. When I finished reading, I knew I would be buying the rest of the series, the next one being ‘Anti-Hero’. I connected with all the characters, their fight for good was believable, as when I read a superhero comic I think: “That wouldn’t happen”, and I found myself rooting for the romance side of ‘Alter Ego’, desperately willing it to move forward… which I will only know about in the next instalment!
***SPOILER ALERT*** – yes I know this whole article is a spoiler… but there’s one thing I LOVED – a twist! When you think the good guys are on top and are winning, the plot twists, making the villains and criminals looks like they’re saving the world rather than the IO’s. Kate Swed wrote each chapter from the viewpoint of that hero or villain, which was an interesting technique as most authors write in the third person for all the characters, rather than giving them each a chapter to hear their side of the story.
I do think that Kate Swed managed to find a new type of hero… I mean, we all know about a water hero, fire hero, strong hero and mind control hero or few, but there is a new hero in this story which I found mysterious and unpredictable: The Pearl Knife. She finds herself trying to live up to her parents’ leadership of the LIO, but she feels she hasn’t even mastered her abilities and her fears kept me gripping my Kindle, wondering whether she would suddenly lose control and hurt the people she loved!
A new collection of heroes, who are highly relatable and enemies with potentially good sides? This is a great read, and I would recommend it to adults 18+, full of action, fast-paced with a hint of romance for good measure!
Thank you, Kate, I’ll see you in the next book, and you can see her works here.
