Audiobook Review & Giveaway: Whiskey Witches by S.M. Blooding

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Author: S.M. Blooding

Narrator: Kalinda Little

Series: Whiskey Witches, Book 1

Length: 12 hours 15 minutes

Publisher: Whistling Book Press

Released: March 4, 2017

Genre: Supernatural Thriller

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Detective Paige Whiskey comes from a long line of witches. They may not all be the most powerful, but they are outspoken and supportive of their community. She alone has no gifts. She can’t summon fire, can’t read minds. She knows the arcane. She’s studied it. That, along with her connection to the Whiskey Witches, lands her some pretty strange cases.

Like the sacrificial murders of St. Francisville, Louisiana. There’s a killer on the loose, choosing people in a vain attempt to raise a demon. Not just any demon, though. A man born long ago, made a demon in order to protect the Gate to Hell.

Together with demon hunter, Dexx Colt, her kitchen-witch grandmother, and her paranormal investigator brother-in-law, they unravel a conspiracy far bigger than a few simple murders, and re-discover Paige’s gift.

She’s a demon summoner and she’s key to the killer’s plan.

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Frankie lives in beautiful Montana with her Darling Dork, his two part-time girls, and their cat, Tesla. She enjoys creating with her wonderful husband, doing everything from crochet, to sewing, to art, and, of course, writing. She’s lived a pretty colorful life, giving breath to her stories.

She’s dated vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, weapons smugglers, U.S. Government assassins, and slingshot terrorist. No. She is not kidding.

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Narrator Bio

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Kalinda Little is a 28 year old web developer who started playing around with audio and never stopped. Currently based out of Portland Oregon, she has spent time all up and down the West Coast, including several years is Ashland where she worked backstage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She is a chapter leader for the Nine Bridges Writers, a nonprofit that aims to assist and support writers in all genres, by providing resources and critique.

While she only started recording professionally in April of 2016, she had over two hundred hours of amature recording and editing available before that point. To date, she has narrated 27 books, with another 3 set to come out before the end of 2017.

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I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by S.M. Blooding. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

When I decided to listen to this book I had no idea how dark it would be. I usually try to avoid dark fantasies because I prefer to read more positive novels. After a few minutes, I started wondering what I’d gotten myself into but I ended up liking it. There are some books that are better read and some that are better listened to, and I think I would have liked Whisky Witches even more if I’d read it.

Paige is smart and independent but broken. The problem is that she didn’t even know it because her memory of the last few years was erased by her family “for her own good.” They’re scared of her powers because she’s a demon summoner. Now that she has her memory back, she has terrible memories to deal with besides trying to find a killer and trying to keep herself and others safe from demons and angels. 

When I heard that Paige was a demon summoner, it made me wonder about her, but once I learned about this world’s demons and angels, a demon summoner didn’t sound so bad. Paige’s nonbelief in God and the way angels are portrayed may bother some readers. 

Kalinda Little does a good job narrating. She has good timing and inflection and I was able to follow the different characters by the changes in her voice.

Whisky Witches is a mostly dark supernatural adventure but it did make me laugh once or twice and there’s this sexual tension between Paige and Dexx that will hopefully be explored more in the next novel which I’ll be listening to soon. I’m looking forward to learning what happens next with Paige. Continue reading

Book Review & Giveaway: The Dragon in the Garden by Erika Gardner

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The Dragon in the Garden
The Watcher Rising Series #1
by Erika Gardner
Genre: Epic Urban Fantasy
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There is magic beneath the mundane and in The Dragon in the Garden, Siobhan
Orsini witnesses it all. No lie can fool her, no glamour or illusion
can cloud her Sight. She sees through them all and wishes she could
close her eyes. Returning to face her past, Siobhan inherits her
grandparents’ house in California’s wine country. She encounters
a talking dragon, a hot fallen angel, a demon lord, a Valkyrie, and,
oh yes, her ex-boyfriend. And that is just in the first twenty-four
hours.

 
It’s time to find out why she has this power.
 
Siobhan seeks out the Oracle and learns that only her Sight can help
mankind navigate the travails of an ancient war. Our world is the prize
in a battle between the dragons, who would defend us, and Lucifer’s
fallen angels, who seek to take the Earth for themselves. Using her
gift, she will have to make a choice that will decide humanity’s
future.
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I chose to read this book after receiving a free copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

Siobhan has always known that she could tell if someone was lying and that she could see things more clearly than others. She also met a dragon in her grandma’s garden when she was 5 years old. Now she’s older and has inherited her grandma’s house. The dragon is still there and angels show up as soon as she starts remodeling. She is told that she is the Watcher and that her choices will save or destroy humanity (no pressure there).

Even though Siobhan and the others are in their upper twenties, they act younger. I kept picturing them in their early twenties and it was difficult for me to get that out of my head. 

There is a lot going on in this story besides the main fight between the Fallen Angels of Lucifer and the dragons. It has love, heartbreak, and loss among other things. If you like urban fantasy, you’ll like The Dragon in the Garden.

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Erika is a sixth generation San Franciscan of Irish descent. She attended
the University of California at Davis and completed degrees in
Medieval History and Biological Sciences. A lifelong lover of books
and a scribbler of many tales from a young age (her first story was
completed at age five) she turned to writing full-time in 2011.

 
On a personal level she loves spicy food, twilight, dark chocolate (with
sea salt-yum!) and nickel slots at Vegas. Erika lives for time with
friends, a nice glass of red wine, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” &
“Doctor Who” and good conversation. Her favorite things to do are
running, cooking, reading, needlework, gardening… and of course,
writing. Erika’s music of choice is heavy metal. To pick her out in a
lineup you should know that she is very short, fairly loud, and has
dark eyebrows. The rest, as her hero Anne McCaffrey once said in her
bio, “is subject to change without notice”.
 
Erika resides in Northern California with her incredibly hot husband, their
three amazing kids, and their chocolate Labrador named Selkie. To
reach Erika regarding her books, wine recommendations, or to debate
which Iron Maiden album is the best (clearly, it’s Brave New World).
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Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The Amazon purchase link in this post is an affiliate link. Purchasing through it helps sustain Bound 4 Escape.

Review: Jumper by Jeff LaFerney

   

7-1-2013 9-56-33 PMTitle: Jumper (Time Travelers)

Author:  Jeff LaFerney

Genre:  Time Travel

Publisher:  Tower Publications

Publication Date:  April 2013

Description: After spending three years in jail and several years completely alone, twenty-four-year-old Cole Flint discovers an amazing ability—he can time-travel and teleport. He’s a jumper. So what should the motorcycle-riding, cage-fighting tough guy do? He should protect an innocent eighteen-year-old girl who happens to be in possession of the Staff of Moses. Following the direction of a trio of angels who are determined to shake things up in the Middle East, Cole pairs up with Hannah Carpenter and her pet grizzly while he also tries to change his past and learn the mystery of his birth. Curiously, the King of Jordan knows all about Hannah, and he’s determined to gain possession of the staff. He’ll do anything to possess its power, but is it possible that he’s no more than a pawn, manipulated in time along with Cole and Hannah? Jumper is a mysterious roller coaster of action and a time-traveling adventure that will keep readers guessing right to the very last page.

Review:

 This is the second book I’ve read by Jeff LaFerney and I do enjoy his writing. He has the gift of getting you interested from the beginning and keeping you engaged in the book throughout. There were so many ways this book could have ended so I had to keep reading to find out which direction it went and why Hannah and Cole were given the gifts that they had been given. Much of the story was predictable but there were also a couple surprises which is always nice.

The time travel is done well. The title of each chapter tells what day it is in relation to gaining possession of the staff so you always know where in time the story is. I did have trouble understanding one aspect of the time travel near the end of the book but I don’t want to give anything away so I can’t go into it any further than that. I reread one chapter 3 times and was still confused.

Both Hannah and Cole are likeable. I didn’t really care for the way the relationships were handled by Cole but, in retrospect, he acted more like a real person than most heroes in novels so I have to say, “Well done!”

There were times in the book that it went more in-depth than I care for, such as when Middle East politics were described or at the beginning when the complete narrative of the tour guide at Mount Nebo was included. This is just a personal preference and I’m sure many people enjoy the in-depth descriptions. I tend to skip over them. I’ve been known to skip pages of descriptions in some of James Michener’s books.

I definitely recommend this book and I’m looking forward to the next one in the series.

Available on Barnes and Noble.