Ghost Spin by Chris Moriarty

Science Fiction

I am on the Round the World Cruise and have limited Internet.   I am using this time to catch up on my TBR pile on my ereaders.  My posts are short with no links or graphics.  Check my travel blog to see where I have been and where I am going.

Ghost Spin is a strange story with a strange story line.  It is Science Fiction.  It is set in the far future when an artificial intelligence named Cohen kills himself.  This is unexpected.  AI's don't kill themselves.  

I kept reading this even though it was confusing at times.  There are parts or Ghosts of Cohen that appear in the story.  There is Cohen's wife Catherine.  In her quest to find out if Cohen really did commit suicide she ends up sending copies of herself across the galaxy.  As a result we have Caitlyn and Catherine, the same character but not the same.

Parts of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland are woven into the story and provide clues to what is happening.  Ghost Spin is a well written and well thought out story filled with interesting characters.   Don't expect it to be a quick read and don't expect all the loose ends to be tied up.  At time it can be confusing as it moves from the present to the past and back.  Don't quit.  Do expect a interesting and challenging read.

Spectra Trade published Ghost Spin by Chris Moriarty in 2013.

The Wild One by Danelle Harmon

Historical Fiction

I am near the end of my round the world cruise.  There are just over two weeks to go.  I have fallen down on posting so I will do this post now and the rest when I get home around the first of May.

The Wild One is Book 1 in the The De Montforte Brothers series by Danelle Harmon.  I downloaded it free from Amazon before I left home.  When I checked a few days ago it was still free.  It is set in 1775, around the time of the American Revolution.  If you like Historical Fiction you should pick this on up.  A warning though; there is a real shocker near the end and you will probably want the read the next book just to see what happens.

The De Monforte family consists of four brothers and one sister.  The set up reminded me of one of Mary Balough's series.  The oldest brother is Lucian, the Duke, and he is always trying to control his siblings.  The Wild One is the third son, Gareth.  After the death of his brother Charles he is the Duke's heir.  He has always been told he is useless and he tries hard to live up to his reputation.  The Duke is working had to try to change him.

Juliet is from America and was going to marry Charles.  She had his daughter after he was killed.  He made her promise to go to England and stay with his family if something happened to him.  As she neared the De Monforte home highwaymen stopped her coach.  Gareth is injured while saving everyone.  He is drawn to Juliet and the Duke sees away to use her to control him.

The story moves from there.   There are some unexpected events and the journey to the HEA is very entertaining.  Garth is one of the great bad boys.  He is really a very good person underneath all of his pranks.  Juliet is very serious and focused.  They really compliment each other.  Juliet needs the fun Garth brings and Garth needs someone who brings him down to earth. 

I enjoyed reading Garth and Juliet's story and hope you do to.

The Wild One is an ebook published by Danelle Harmon in 2012.

And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake, Rhymes with Love by Elizabeth Boyle

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Historical Romance

Goodreads Summary:

"Daphne Dale never could have imagined that when she answered an advertisement in the newspaper that she would find true love. Now she has the opportunity to meet her unknown suitor, but it means traveling to Tabitha’s wedding, and into the heart of her family’s sworn enemies. Everyone knows the Seldons are terrible rakes and bounders, but Daphne will risk anything to gain the happiness she is certain is right around the corner.

Lord Henry Seldon is aghast at the latest addition to the house party guest list—one would think after the unforgettable scandal Daphne Dale caused at the duke’s engagement ball, she wouldn’t dare show her face at the duke’s wedding. But here she is, poking her nose where she shouldn’t and driving Henry mad . . . with an unforgettable passion that will turn enemies into lovers"

Elizabeth Boyle writes some of the best comic dialog around.  If you want a book with lots of laughs, fun characters and exciting ending And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake is for you.

The two main characters are wonderful.  Daphne Dale wants a sensible husband.  She is in London for the wedding of her friend Tabitha Timmons to the Duke of Preston and plans to find that husband while she is there. 

Lord Henry Seldon is the sensible one of his family.  Uncle to Preston (the Duke) he has managed the family business and keeps everything from falling apart for his entire life.  He has never been considered a rake before.

Letter writing brings them together and when Daphne and Henry first lay eyes on each other at the ball for Tabitha and Preston they know they are destined to be together.  That is until they find out that she is a Dale and he is a Seldon.   It seems their families have been enemies for generations.  Each reacts with horror and then the fun begins.  This is where the great dialog comes in. The book was filled with too many scenes where I could not stop laughing to keep count.

Watching the two of them fight their attraction was wonderful.  They went to great lengths to try to stay apart.  It did not help.  They would be in the same place and their interaction always deepened the attraction. Daphne sees sensible Henry as a rake.  Henry sees Daphne as anything but sensible. They are made for one another.  They have to fight both of their families and that adds to the fun.  Even how they finally manage to get together is unique.

Look for a really fun filled read in the second Rhymes with Love book from Elizabeth Boyle.   Along Came a Duke (click to see my review) is the first book .

Avon published And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake by Elizabeth Boyle in 2013.

Hammer of Angels by G.T. Almasi

Alternate History

I am on the Round the World Cruise and have limited Internet.   I’m using this time to catch up on my TBR pile on my ereaders.  My posts are short with no links or graphics.  Check my travel blog to see where I have been and where I am going.

I don’t want to give too much away so this is a very short review.

Hammer of Angels picks up a few months after Blades of Winter ends.  It picks up with Alix in an action scene and does not stop for the entire book.   I like action and a really interesting Alternate History so I was eager to see how the series held up in book two.  I was not disappointed.  The plot is full of tension and, the characters are interesting.  I had wondered how Alix would react to Brando.  I like how that part of the story was handled.  There are two main stories in the book and they overlap.  While some issues in both stories are resolved there are still thing up in the air.  Book three should be really interesting.

A word of warning about the series.  All of the world building was done in book one so if you start with Hammer of Angels you may be completely lost.  I recommend you get Blades of Winter and read from there.

Del Rey published Hammer of Angels by G. T. Almasi in 2013.

I received an ARC of Hammer of Angels from Netgalley.

A Bride by Moonlight by Liz Carlyle

Historical Fiction

I am on the Round the World Cruise and have limited Internet.   I’m using this time to catch up on my TBR pile on my ereaders.  My posts are short with no links or graphics.  Check my travel blog to see where I have been and where I am going.

As I read Chapter One of A Bride by Moonlight it sounded very familiar.  Then I realized it is the same as a scene from a previous book but from a different perspective. 

Royden Napier and Elizabeth “Lisette” Colburne are back but this time as the main characters.  Napier does not know what to think about Lisette.  He is not sure if she is innocent or guilty of murder.  He does know that in spite of everything he is very attracted to her.

He is called to his estranged grandfather’s home to solve a mystery and he is warned that there will be pressure put on him to wed someone not of his choice.  Using blackmail he convinces Lisette to go with him and pose as his betrothed. 

The story unwinds from there.  There is a lot of tension in A Bride by Moonlight; tension between Napier and his family, between Napier and Lisette, tension caused by Lisette’s past and tension from past secrets in both of their lives.  Both Napier and Lisette must face the fact that not all of the past was as it seemed.   The plot is full of surprises, twists and turns, and of course romance.  The journey to Napier’s and Lissett’s  HEA is really fun read, one you don’t want to miss.

While A Bride by Moonlight is part of a series you can read it as a stand alone. 

Avon Published A Bride by Moonlight by Liz Carlyle in 2013.

I received an ARC of A Bride by Moonlight from Edelweiss.

NIghts of Steel by Nico Rosso

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Steampunk Romance

I am on a Round the World Cruise and have limited Internet.   I'm using this time to catch up on my TBR pile on my ereaders.  My posts are short with no links or graphics.  Check my travel blog to see where I have been and where I am going.

From Goodreads:

 Return to The Ether Chronicles, where the skies above the American West are about to get wilder than ever…

Bounty hunter Anna Blue always finds her fugitive. But her latest mission is filled with mystery: a high price for an eccentric inventor. And her biggest rival, Jack Hawkins—a startlingly handsome, entirely unsettling man whose abilities match her own—is hunting the same bounty. Neither will back down.

When a rogue Man O' War flies his airship into the California skies, guns blazing, Anna and Jack are forced to team up or die. But it isn't the danger that has them ready to flare like gunpowder. They've circled each other for years as competitors only. Fighters and outsiders, they never thought they'd find a kindred soul. As hot passion and raw need draw them together, can they survive this mission long enough to track the most elusive fugitives their hearts

Nights of Steel features two great characters, Anna Blue and Jack Hawkins.  The plot is interesting.  The romance is hot.  The action is nonstop.  This is steampunk and it contains very interesting inventions that add a lot to the story.  The only draw back is the world building.  This is #4 is the Ether Chronicles and if you have not read the first three you will be a little lost.  Because everything in this world was developed before Nights of Steel it is assumed you know the history of this world and how it works.   Don't let that stop you.  Just read on and then go back and read the first three.

Avon Books published Nights of Steel by Nico Rosso in 2012.

I received an ARC of Nights of Steel from Edelweiss.  

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Santuario by G. B. Gordon

Science Fiction/Mystery

I am on the Round the World Cruise and have limited Internet.   I'm using this time to catch up on my TBR pile on my ereaders.  My posts are short with no links or graphics.  Check my travel blog to see where I have been and where I am going.

The prolog set the stage for Santuario.  A Santuarian generation ship landed on Jarovegur 200 years ago.  Jarovegur already had inhabits and they segregated the newcomers to an island that they called Santuario hoping they would fail to survive.  The opposite happened.   There is a move to end the isolation and not everyone is in favor of that happening.

That is where the mystery comes in.  There has been a murder on Santuario and someone from the mainland is sent to help in the investigation.  While the story is based on finding the murderer it is really a story about human interaction.  The story is very character driven.  The two main characters are from opposite societies, Alex from Santuario and Bengt from the mainland.  From Bengt's viewpoint nothing is as it seems and from Alex's viewpoint Bengt does not begin to understand how things work on Santuario.  Their struggle to work together is the main focus for the story and allows the issues to surface and develop.

Much of the story revolves around the move to open up the island and the effect it will have.  The mystery is there to bring the characters together and to allow all the issues to be brought out into the open.

I liked the story and was drawn into the conflict between Alex and Bengt.  Using two different cultures on the same planet has been used before but it still works to set a stage filled with tension and misunderstanding.  While there was an end and a solution to the story there is plenty of room for more stories set on Jarovegur.

Riptide Publishing published Santuario by G.B. Gordon in 2012.

I received an ARC of Santuario from Netgalley.

The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl by Gina Lamm

Time Travel Romance

I am on the Round the World Cruise and have limited Internet.   I'm using this time to catch up on my TBR pile on my ereaders.  My posts are short with no links or graphics.  Check my travel blog to see where I have been and where I am going.

Jamie is the Geek Girl in the story and Mike is the Scandalous Earl.  Jamie writes music and lived a vicarious life playing online games.  When she help clean out a storage locker she falls through the mirror on an antique wardrobe.  It seems she has been called as the perfect mate for the Earl.  Of course love and the HEA is not as easy as that.

Jamie and Mike have an exciting journey.  Mike was involved with a woman who is very jealous.  Even though he as broken it off she is still trying to win him back and she does not care how.  Mike is about to ask the wrong woman to marry him.  And how does Jamie fit in.  Well she does not at first but eventually Mike realizes he loves her.  Then the trouble really begins and Mike pushes her away for her safety.

Jamie is a different type of time traveler.  Her main interest is music and online games.  Mike is a typical 1800's male.  It leads to some interesting scenes between the two.  I had some trouble getting into the story but once I got past the first few chapters I did not want to quit reading.  If you are looking for a slightly different time travel romance pick this one up.

Sourcebooks published The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl by Gina Lamm in 2013.

I received an ARC of The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl from Netgalley.