Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole - Book Review

Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole is a fast-paced paranormal action thriller. It was also quite scary in places, and were it a movie with a bit of sound effects, it would definitely be creepy. It is the first instalment in the World on Fire series.

The novel opens with a lengthy but action-filled prologue where we are introduced to Abigail, a demon hunter, who was out on a mission but had been possessed by the demon she, along with two others, was sent to destroy. Her mentor, Arthur goes to rescue her and is instead taken by the demon after a bone-breaking supernatural fight in a church.

Though long, the prologue is eventful and exciting.

"What stood before Arthur was only the shell of the girl he loved. Something else was in control. He could feel the rage and hatred emanating from Abigail's lithe body. Her skin was covered in a heat rash, her flesh barely containing the demonic presence within."

After the prologue, the novel begins five months after the events at the church, where we meet Haatim, a theology graduate who recently lost his sister to cancer and returned to the US from India, feeling angry at his father and God. He is given a kind of freelance job, by a man named George, to take pictures of Abigail, who is seen following George.

From there, things progress as Haatim is thrust into the supernatural world of which he had no knowledge. Abigail attempts – at first – to withhold information regarding Haatim's father, who is a member of the Council that sanctions the missions against the demons.

The duo then flees from otherworldly creatures trying to kill or capture them. Abigail, secretly, tries to find out more about the demon that took Arthur and seeks to save him.

"They could feel the supernatural presence, the sheer wrongness of it, as easily as he could. Even the forest could sense something was amiss."

Abigail is tasked to go to Raven's Peak after rumours that there might be a minor demon in the area. From there, things take a whole new level of surprising and scary for both the demon hunter and Haatim.

Character development in the novel is significant for both Abigail and Haatim. Abigail is also a sarcastic though often serious character, making her interactions with Haatim quite funny, especially since he is new to the whole supernatural scene.

"I thought you said I wasn't worth anything to them without the pictures."

"I didn't think you were," she said. "Turns out, you're worth a whole hell of a lot."

The only things that can be said are that I felt that the cover did not reflect the content of the novel, and that I would have liked a small explanation as to how demons move if they are not possessing a body - from a fictional perspective.

Raven's Peak had many scary parts, some nearly had me biting my nails with suspense, but overall it wasn't horrifying. The pace is very quick, even the longer chapters slip by and you're hungry for more.

"What happens when I don't come back? When I become the new threat and you have no one else to send?"

Overall rating: 4.5 stars.


Check out the book trailer for Raven's Peak here.

Connect with author Lincoln Cole:

Website, Twitter, Goodreads

Note: I received a free copy of Raven's Peak from the author in exchange for an honest review (which was originally planned in October.)

Thirst: Blood of My Blood by RP Channing - excerpt & interview

Today, I'm featuring author RP Channing and his novel Blood of My Blood through an excerpt and short author interview.

The book definitely looks interesting and I absolutely love the cover – which we cover in the interview ;)

Book: Blood of My Blood

Author: RP Channing

Genres: Young Adult Romance, Paranormal Romance, High School, Vampires, Demons, Witches, Dark Fantasy, Horror

Publication date: 26 November, 2015

Book length: 243 pages + beautiful photographs

Blurb:

~ Kira Sutherland ~

After a near fatal accident (and getting cheated on by her 'boyfriend'), and beating up the lead cheerleader (with whom the boyfriend cheated...), and being labeled as having 'issues' in her school because she, uhm, sees ghosts, Kira is left with two choices:

1. Continue her 'therapy' (where she's told the ghost is a hallucination and also gets her legs ogled too often...)

Or

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, a boarding school for "Crazies and Convicts" (as the social media sites call them.)

She chooses the latter...

~ Cory Rand ~

Cory Rand has not had an easy life. His mother died in a car accident when he was twelve, and so did his mother's best friend...sort of. You see, Janice made a promise to take care of Cory just before she died, and so she lingers. Undead. A ghost that watches out for him.

Brought up in an abusive home, Cory quickly falls into a life of disreputable behavior. After his third offense (which was prompted by a girl, as usual - he has a weakness) he's left with two choices:

1. Be tried as an adult and share a cell with a guy named Bubba (he thinks...)

Or

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, which Cory is pretty sure is run by vampires. But, hey, at least he'll get an education.

He chooses the latter...

It's at Starkfield that Kira meets Cory Rand, a boy with an insatiable Rage who sees ghosts, too. As well as other things, other things from his past, things that confuse him, things like fire and witches and demons.

Things he's always ignored.

Until now.

Add the book on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28002124-thirst?ac=1&from_search=1 

Excerpt from Blood of My Blood by RP Channing

-1-

The Puppy Eyes

My life was perfect.

I had the perfect shoes and the perfect friends and I lived in the perfect house. My nails were perfect and my hair was perfect (except on Sundays, it was always windy on Sundays) and I had the perfect clothes. My lips were a perfect red and my hair perfectly straight. My eyeshadow was perfect, my hips were...okay, and my waist...well...also okay. Nothing was wrong in my life.

But then there was Jack.

Jack was a problem.

He needed to go. I mean, when you’re dead, you’re dead! I had told him this endlessly. Somehow, Jack didn’t get it. I mean, I felt sorry for the guy. Sure. Being stuck between this life and the next. But just because I found him, does that mean I needed to keep him?

I think not!

Sadly, when Jack got that look in his eyes, that weary, almost teary (if his tear-ducts worked) look, I melted. I just couldn’t send him away. Not even Jack knew where he would go after he died.

Would he, like, die? As in — dead, nada, kaput, finito, gone, no more? Bye bye, sayonara, ciao, hasta la vista baby and all that?

I couldn’t have that on my conscience. No way.

I lay on my bed, wondering what to do about him. “Jaaaaaaack,” I hollered.

“Jaaaaaaack!”

Still no answer.

“Jack!”

Jack...materialized.

His eyes rolled down to the ground. He was making those puppy eyes again. “Jack, I told you not to do that. I told you not to play on my sympathies.”

His puppy eyes became worse.

His skin was gray and, well, dead.

“Oh, brother,” I said. “I have to do something about you. If mom finds out I have another ‘imaginary friend’ — at my age — well, I’d die of embarrassment. But, like, really die. Not like you.” I wondered about this. Would I die? Was Jack a freak accident, or did all people live on like him? Think of the cemeteries...

The idea excited me somewhat.

“What would you have me do, Miss Kira?”

“Knock off the Miss Kira crap. I told you it’s just Kira.”

“Yes, Miss Kira.”

The dead. There’s just no reasoning.

“Fine, Miss Kira it is then.” Rover barked like a lunatic in the garden. No one else might be able to see Jack, but I was sure my dog could.

“I have to do something about this,” I mumbled.

-2-

The Rat

Mike knocked on the door before I had time to leave the house. Mike was the guy I thought (at the time) was perfect.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, baby.”

Baby, urgh — I wasn’t his baby. I dated Mike because he was the quarterback, because girls are supposed to like the quarterback, because it’s just so darn perfect to be seen with the quarterback, like we’re brainwashed into thinking these things from the first romantic doll set mom buys us.

This was my previous life.

“Mike.”

“Uh-huh. Gonna let me in?”

So you can try rub me up and then complain when I don’t let you? This, dear reader, was the big problem with Mike. The second we first kissed, his hand went way too far south for me to be comfortable — and I pulled back.

Mike suddenly wasn’t so perfect.

“Uhm, I was just on my way out,” I said.

“Kira? C’mon, open the door.” He sounded upset. “Is there someone in there with you?”

Boys. As if.

I didn’t know much about love (nothing, actually) but I knew this wasn’t it.

“Uhm, now’s not the time, Mike.”

“C’mon, Kira, what’s going on?” He banged harder.

When in doubt...lie. I opened the door a crack. “There’s a dead rat in the house, Mike. Been here for days. I gotta go get some detergent and stuff to handle the stench.”

Mike stepped back. He peered through the crack of the door.

“It’s really bad,” I said.

“I’ll drive you.”

“I’m afraid the smell” — I stuck my armpit to my nose — “has found its way all over me. I’ll drive myself.”

“O — okay. Fine.” And then he grinned like he wanted something. “Later? My place?”

Urgh. “Uhm, sure...er...later. Not sure when though.”

“Six.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. According to girls at school, he was apparently so damn good looking — theoretically. But for me personally, he did nothing. Moved nothing. Twisted nothing. “Look, I gotta go, Mike. I gotta — ”

“Kira.” His eyes grew stern. “You’ve been avoiding me...”

Bingo! Well done contestant number one! And what have you won? A brain!

I tilted my head. “Mike, look, this...rat — I need to deal with it. We’ll talk later, okay? Bye.” I closed the door, not waiting for an answer, and peered out the peep hole. Mike hung around for a second, shoulders wide and eyes glaring straight at me through the door. Could he see me? Did he know I was looking at him?

He kicked something off the ground, and I had the distinct impression he mouthed the word Bitch before leaving. But I wasn’t sure...

-3-

The Mack

“Roll down the window, Jack.” Jack was recently dead, so he still had a smell about him. (Which only I could smell...)

I had purposely skipped breakfast. Maybe Jack would help me lose weight. I was (still am) a little wide, although it had never stopped guys flirting with me. I know how to dress.

But I could be skinnier.

Lucy Rogers was skinny. All bones and no boobs.

Charlene Carverton was a babe. Cheerleader. Big chest (which she pushed out generously with a push-up — if only guys knew). Toned thighs. Charlene only dated college boys (back then), which I still think is pretty gross for a girl her age.

“He’s not for you,” Jack said out the blue.

“Hmm?”

“This...Mike — he’s wrong for you, Miss Kira.” For all Jack’s faults (mainly, being dead), he has a good heart. Factually, probably it’s why I kept him around at first.

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Then why don’t you dump him?”

I braked at a stop sign. Looked left and right. “Because I’d look like an idiot. I flirted with him and showed interest, and one kiss later I can’t stand the sight of him.”

“So dump him.”

“It’s not that simple. Kids at school — they can be vicious. I have to let it fade slowly. If I drop the bomb on him, I’ll never hear the end of it through senior year.”

“And you care?”

Yes, I did. Forget Guantanamo, schools are rough. “You don’t understand, Jack. Maybe school was different in your day. But in mine, well, we walk through metal detectors.”

“Schools weren’t too different in my day.” I noted the sadness in his voice.

“You okay?”

“I’m dead.”

Right. “You miss...your life?”

Jack shrugged. “I like being with you, Miss Kira. And I don’t remember much of my life. I think I’m in limbo.”

“Limbo?”

“Yes, like I have some unfinished business. If only I could remember...what...it is...” He scratched his head.

“Any ideas?”

“Well, it can’t be love. If it were love, I’d be a vampire. That’s who teenage girls fall in love with these days.”

“A vampire? That’s just what I need — two undead beings stalking me.”

“I feel I have something to do around you, Miss Kira. I don’t know what, but something. Something important.”

I looked over at him. “Me?”

I was still looking at him when I missed the stop sign.

The Mack truck drove straight into us.

Nadaness In Motion's author interview about the book

Q: Is this a standalone novel or the first in a series? If it were a series, how many parts are you planning for it?

RP Channing: This is a standalone. There is room for more in the story but I haven't decided if I will continue it, or if I'll release a different story altogether next.

I hate dragging things out in my tales. Right now, the story is concluded, but there is space for more. I'll see how it goes and make a call sometime later.

Q: If the novel is about Kira and Cory, why does the cover feature only one of them?

RP: Well, cover design is a tricky business. LOL. Kira also had black hair throughout the novel...but a brunette didn't go well with the background and so, at the last minute, she became a redhead. Also, Kira's story is the main aspect of the book, so she gets to be up front in lights J

Q: What is your favourite thing/aspect about your two main characters?

RP: Kira is extremely powerful, only she doesn't know it. She grows throughout the story and becomes something magnificent towards the end.

Cory has a dark part to him which even he doesn't understand. It's really what brings him and Kira together in the first place.

Buy Links for Blood of My Blood:

Amazon US, Amazon UK, Kindle Unlimited

  

Author Bio

R P Channing started writing three years ago, but never published anything even after churning out over a million words of fiction. Thirst: Blood of my Blood is the first book he dared to publish. When asked why, he said, “Because it’s the first thing I wrote that my wife actually enjoyed reading.” When not hammering away (most literally) at his keyboard, he can be found buried in a book, reading anything from romance to horror to young adult to non-fiction to comedy.

Connect with RP Channing via his website, Twitter and Amazon.

$20 Amazon Gift Voucher Giveaway

At the back of the book there is a giveaway link. Once the book hits fifty reviews on Amazon, one of those reviewers will win a US$20 Amazon Gift Voucher!

Interview with author Rebecca Chastain

Earlier in October, I reviewed A Fistful of Evil by Rebecca Chastain. Check out my five-star review here.

Today, I'm interviewing the author, so without further ado, please join me in welcoming Rebecca Chastain on Nadaness In Motion.

A bit about Rebecca:

Q: What is your favourite food?

Rebecca Chastain: It’s a toss-up between burritos and Thai food.

Q: You favourite colour(s)? RC: Green, specifically a bright new-growth green

Q: Are you a full-time writer now? Or do you have a job alongside your writing?

RC: I’m working toward full-time status and saving up to make the leap, but right now I have a day job as a freelance editor. If I can’t be a full-time author, this is the perfect job combo: I work from home and can squeeze in extra writing time between projects. Not to mention it keeps my copyediting and proofreading skills sharp.

Q: What countries do you hope to visit in the future? (Any chance Egypt would be in the list? J)

RC: I’d love to visit Egypt! I’ve been doing a lot of research about the Aztec and have added Mexico City and Teotihuacan to my travel plans. I dream of taking a month tour through Europe, too. The last time I went without my husband (it was before we met, so I didn’t ditch him), and I really want to see it with him.

Q: Will you be taking part in NaNoWriMo this November? (If yes, what's the title you're working on or what should the story be about?)

RC: I won’t be officially taking on the challenge, but I am in the middle of writing the Aztec story, and on good days (non-work days), I’m averaging 4,000 words a day, so I might succeed by default.

On A Fistful of Evil:

Q: What are your favourite and least favourite aspects about your lead character?

RC: I love Madison’s perpetual ability to bounce back to optimism and fool herself into thinking she’s got a handle on situations that are well beyond her expertise. It gets her into lots of trouble, which is fun for me. It’s hard to say I have a least favourite aspect of her. The novel I finished before A Fistful of Evil had a main character who spent far too much time in her head, which was annoying, so I was very intentional in creating a character I loved to write when I sat down to create Madison. But Madison’s tendency to jump before looking would drive me nuts if she were my friend.

Q: Apart from the second book in the series, are there any other projects you're working on?

RC: Yes! I have a couple of books in the works, including a magical realism romance called Tiny Glitches set in present-day Los Angeles that involves a woman whose very presence destroys electricity and her quest to hide/save a kidnapped baby elephant. That book is currently in edits. Right now I’m writing an alternate history fantasy novella set in the Aztec empire, with a main character who is half Aztec, a quarter Romani (Gypsy), a quarter Fae, and who could whip Madison’s region into shape with both hands tied behind her back (but this isn’t a competition of who is tougher, right?).

Q: How many parts are you planning for the series?

RC: There will be at least three books in the Madison Fox, Illuminant Enforcer series, and hopefully many more beyond that. I have a handful of ideas bubbling around in the back of my imagination, and I’m sure Madison will be getting into trouble that will have ongoing repercussions into future novels, novellas, or short stories.

Q: Have you finished your first draft for the second novel? Have you settled on a title?

RC: I finished a draft of the second novel. At one point, I thought it was the final draft. I wrote A Fistful of Evil years ago (7 or 8, I can’t remember now) for [National Novel Writing Month] NaNoWriMo, and then the sequel the following year, also for NaNoWriMo. I read back through book 2 recently, and what I wrote was a great rough draft/outline that needs a lot of polish and additional writing. I’m really looking forward to diving back into Madison’s world! I don’t have a title for the second book. Titles are hard for me. I filled out four pages of titles ideas (most absolutely atrocious, like IMPS, VERVET, AND DEMONS, OH MY! and FOX ON THE RUN) before finally getting to A Fistful of Evil.

Moving on to some book/writing/publishing-related questions:

Q: How did you design the cover of your book? Some writers say they use Pinterest, others go through Google Images; how was the A Fistful of Evil cover formed?

RC: I have zero design skills, and very little patience with Photoshop, so I knew I wasn’t going to attempt a cover on my own. I hired Damonza for the cover, and they wisely ask for examples of covers you like. For that, I took a trip to my local bookstore and cruised around online bookstores to find good examples. Then Damonza sent me two examples. I think they nailed it!

Q: What, in your opinion, is the hardest part about writing a novel?

RC: I’m an extreme outliner. I’ve learned by trial and a lot of errors that making an incredibly detailed outline can save me months of headaches in edits and rewrites. But it’s really hard once an idea starts to come together to not jump in and start writing too soon. I actually have created a checklist that the outline and all the characters and scenes have to pass before I begin writing. Getting the outline just right is the second-hardest part, because it means recognizing the flaws in my own stories. Sometimes I’m so close to the story and so in love with particular pieces that it’s hard to separate out what is going to make a good novel from what would be fun to write.

Q: Can we get a sneak peak about the second novel or the synopsis?

RC: I can’t provide a synopsis yet, but I can tell you that we’ll get to meet more enforcers as well as Madison’s family. Also, Madison’s not just fighting evil in book 2; she’s doing so in the middle of Black Friday. At a mall. (That just gave me chills. I really feel for the torture I put Madison through in this next book! J)

About Chastain's novella Magic of the Gargoyles:

Q: Is the novella Magic of the Gargoyles a standalone piece or are you planning a series for it?

RC: I wrote Magic of the Gargoyles with the idea that it would be a short story. I’d heard of other author writing a sort of palate-cleanser short story between novels, and that seemed like a great idea. Then Magic of the Gargoyles ballooned well past the 12 pages I’d originally planned, and the world became so much more than I first sat down to write. Long answer short: It’s a standalone story, but at some point, I’ll like to give the main character’s best friend an adventure of her own. I just don’t know when that would be.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

RC: Thank you for the fun interview. Talking about my future projects has re-energized me to get back to the desk and write some more!

I'll be reviewing Magic of the Gargoyles soon, so stay tuned!

Hunters - Blog Tour/Book Review

Synopsis:

Abigail is nineteen. Her job, she hunts demons.

Her life so far has been tough. Having witnessed her family’s death and her mother’s suicide, she’s been taken in by a priest, who believes her when she says that she sees ghosts. Father Peter trains her as a demon hunter with three other members, one being Daniel, who isn’t what he seems.

But when a possession goes wrong, and ghosts start to attack Abigail, the tight rope she has on her emotions soon starts to loosen. Abigail draws the unwanted attention of the Reote, and she finds out a lot more than she was willing to learn.

Knowledge is power, but for Abigail, it’s her undoing, and the only thing keeping her together is Daniel.

Review:

"Ghosts, angels, and demons exist. They are not the things from movies. They are so much worse." (p. 43)

Hunters is the first instalment in The Demon Series by Aoife Marie Sheridan.

I enjoyed the novel, loved the characters but the protagonist, Abigail, I hated her!

It’s the first time for me to dislike a central character so much.

Abigail Thornton is a nineteen-year-old vodka-aholic demon hunter. But instead of demon hunting, it seems she has a knack for attracting demons – for reasons unknown to her or the reader.

In the first demon-hunting encounter the reader comes across, the demon recognises Abigail and calls her by her name. The situation is unheard-of, even for a hunter.

I particularly like how every character is a mystery, not just the central character or Daniel, who is always by her side and is like every girl's dream, but also Cathy, Nicholas, Father Peter, even Simon, to a small extent.

Abigail has had a rough childhood. Her mother, as she remembers her, suffered from depression and was rarely herself. Her father was never around and her childhood was spent playing with her brother Sam. Abigail came across her mother's body after she had committed suicide. But that wasn't the worst thing eleven-year-old Abigail saw that night, there was someone else in the bathroom, a dark figure, whose face she had never seen before.

Abigail and I can agree that some characters are just down-right obnoxious like Steven and Cathy, though the latter can be good at times.

There is a thin line of romance in the novel, between the often unfeeling Abigail and Daniel. The love is not unrequited, it's a mystery of its own. However, one often gets the urge to want to smack Abigail on the face, like when Cathy does, but for different reasons.

Sheridan lays out several mysterious threads throughout the novel, a sort of large setting for the parts to come. Some threads are answered, others are not. As the saying goes "The more you know, the less you know." (No idea who said it), but that's the situation with Abigail. She has so many questions about herself, her parents, her life, Daniel. But as she begins to ask questions, she begins to fear the answers that she will hear. Worse, answers come to questions she never even thought of; they begin to surface, particularly those of her birth.

Hunters is narrated in the first person perspective, mostly from Abigail's point of view, though occasionally from Daniel's. Abigail might be a sad and angry teen most of the time, but she is highly sarcastic, giving some dark humour to the already dark story.

I look forward to reading the coming instalments in the series and to see how these threads of mystery will come to light. I hope more questions will be answered rather than asked.

About the Author:

Aoife Marie Sheridan has loved reading from a very young age, starting off with mills and boon's books, given to by her grandmother her love for romances grew, by the age of 14 she had read hundreds of them.

 

Aoife had a passion for writing poetry or in her eyes her journal entries. Aoife won first place for two of her poems and had them published at the young age of nineteen. Realising she needed to get a real job (What writing isn't) she studied accountancy and qualified working in that field for many years, until her passion for reading returned.

Aoife's first book Eden Forest (Part one of the Saskia Trilogy) came to be after a dream of a man and woman on a black horse jumping through a wall of fire and the idea of Saskia was born. Now with her first novel published and taking first place for Eden Forest with Writers Got Talent 2013, Aoife continues to write tales of fantasy and is currently working on her third book for the Saskia Trilogy amongst other new works.

Connect with the Author via Amazon Page, Facebook, Twitter, Website, Goodreads, Blog, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Mailing List, TSU.

Also, check out my five-star book review of Eden Forest here.