The Fortress in Orion (Dead Enders) by Mike Resnick

Science Fiction/Space Opera

From Goodreads:

The Democracy is at war with the alien Traanskei Coalition. War hero Colonel Nathan Pretorius has a record of success on dangerous behind-enemy-lines missions, missions that usually leave him in the hospital. Now he's recruited for a near-impossible assignment that may well leave him dead. 

At the cost of many lives, the Democracy has managed to clone and train General Michkag, one of the Traanskei's master strategists. Colonel Pretorius and a hand-picked team must kidnap the real Michkag if they can, assassinate him if they can't, but no matter which, put the clone in his place, where he will misdirect the enemy's forces and funnel vital information to the Democracy. 

Against the odds, Pretorius, along with Cyborg Felix Ortega, computer expert Toni Levi, convict and contortionist Sally "Snake" Kowalski, the near-human empath Marlowe, the alien Gzychurlyx, and Madam Methuselah - the Dead Enders - must infiltrate the Fortress in Orion, accomplish their mission, and escape with their lives.

The Fortress in Orion is classic Mike Resnick.  There is great dialog, interesting characters, a fun plot and world building set in the Democracy phase of the Birthright Universe.  (The framework for this universe is set in Birthright: The Book of Man an early Resnick book.)  To make this even better The Fortress of Orion is the first book in a new series by Resnick.

I loved how Pretorius just keeps everything secret until the last minute and then manages to make it work.  The only problem – everything seemed to be too easy in spite of the fact that it had only a 3% chance of succeeding.  I am looking forward to seeing what happens when all of the characters are together again.  Here’s hoping for many more books featuring the Dead Enders.

Pry published The Fortress in Orion by Mike Resnick in 2014.  

I received a free ARC of The Fortress in Orion from Edelweiss in return for an honest review.

On a Rogue Planet (The Phoenix Adventures #3) by Anna Hackett

Science Fiction Romance

What Goodreads says:

Unlucky-in-love salvage mechanic, Malin Phoenix, didn’t intend to get caught up in a coup and kidnapped by a sexy cyborg. But she finds herself swept into an adventure to help the deadly, emotionless CenSec, Xander Saros, retrieve an ancient Terran artifact and save his planet.

Soon she’s racing across uncharted space and is magnetically drawn to the cyborg whose strong arms and muscled body ignite a desire that burns brighter than a supernova. But Mal can never let herself forget that she can’t fall in love with a cyborg who can never love her back.

The crowning glory of the Centax Security program, Xander is heavily enhanced, his emotions dampened to nothing to allow him to be the most efficient, lethal killer in the galaxy. As he and Malin hunt for the remnant of the galaxy’s first computer, the Antikythera Mechanism, their quest leads them into the lair of a dangerous technomancer. But Xander can’t identify his greatest threat—the enemy or the fascinating woman who’s making him feel.

Malin Phoenix  loves machines and Xander Saros is part machine so they must be made for each other.  We the readers know this but Malin and Xander do not and so we have a story. You can also look for a new set of Phoenix characters to appear along with hook for future stories.

I really like this series.  Each adventure is a novella with well developed characters, a interesting plot, good world building and a new romance. See if like me  a female mechanic unlucky in love and a cyborg who should not have emotions remind you of a female character in a short lived TV show  and a character in another SFR.  While I found the characters similar the story was all new.

On a Rogue Planet can stand alone but it is more fun if you have read At Star’s End and In the Devil’s Nebula, the first two books in the series.  Since there are several more Phoenix loose and without a love interest I can look forward to more books set in this universe. 

Anna Hackett published On a RoguePlanet in 2014.

I received an ARC for On a Rogue Planet from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Ghosts of Grace Cottage by Carolyn Wren Blurb Blitz Tour and Giveaway

Ghosts of Grace Cottage

by Carolyn Wren

Carolyn will be awarding a $50 gift card to winner's choice of Amazon or Secret Cravings Publishing to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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BLURB:

Eloisa Waters is creating a new life for herself.  After travelling for twelve months, she comes home at Christmas, purchasing a small country cottage in a sleepy English village, despite the fact its previous owner was a recluse, the original owner was supposedly a witch, and it’s now rumored to be haunted!

On the first night in her new home, sensual erotic dreams surprise and delight her.  Only these aren’t dreams.  The rumors are true.  Two handsome Regency ghosts inhabit the cottage, becoming corporeal at night, trapped by a curse, compelled to satisfy every desire of the new owner.

Elly begins to fall in love with Anton and Phillipe, her charming ghostly lovers.  But is there more? Can the curse be broken? Or does Elly risk her own soul. As Christmas approaches, and memories surface, how will Elly choose?  How can she possibly leave behind the Ghosts of Grace Cottage? 

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My Thoughts on Ghosts at Grace Cottage

Elly is a great character and carries this short novella.  If you like erotica and really handsome ghosts this is a story for you.  Elly, Anton and Phillipe find that they fit.  Elly has a hard decision to make and in the end it leads to a HEA for the three.

Excerpt:

“You can’t avoid bringing up the subject of Christmas with me. It’s everywhere I look.” She gestured to the fairy lights in the trees and the snowman in the garden next door. “Just because I’m not up to all the festivities this year doesn’t mean everyone else has to suffer.”

“I don’t know why you don’t buy a lovely new place with the life insurance money.”

“My folks always wanted a country cottage. Maybe in some ways I’m fulfilling their dream.”

Sally yanked the collar of her coat higher as a chill breeze flew along the quiet country lane. “You know she died there,” she whispered. “The previous owner, I mean.”

“Miss Hardy was ninety-two years old. She had to die somewhere.”

“Doesn’t it freak you out?”

“Nope, from what I hear she had a long and happy life.”

“Really?” Sally shivered. “I don’t know where you get that idea. She was a recluse who wouldn’t let anyone inside the house to do repairs and renovations.  That’s why it’s so cheap. Did you hear the rumors? Some people say she used to talk to herself, and strange noises came from inside late at night.” Her voice dropped back to a whisper. “Maybe it’s haunted. I heard another rumor too.  They say a witch might have lived here a couple of hundred years ago.”

Elly laughed. “Sal, honey, I think you need to go back to realtor school. Your selling method leaves a lot to be desired.” Her eyes turned once again to the faded beauty of the old home, and her voice was determined. “I want it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I was born in England. My parents loved to travel as my dad spent many years in the navy. By the time I reached the age of 12 we had traveled pretty much around the world on cruise ships.

This sounds fun and exciting unless like me you can get sea sick sitting in a bathtub. Lets just say boats do not feature highly in my books.

I still love to travel, but I use planes. All of my life I have written stories in my head. I would rewrite and add characters to TV shows, edit and change novels I was reading, invent scenarios and scenes to amuse myself on long journeys. But strangely I never wrote any of them down. About three years ago I woke up with a scene so clear in my head I knew I had to put it down on paper. Now, what should I do with this one page of prose? I know, I will email it to some friends. The friends approved, in fact they asked what book it was from. I shyly admitted it was my own work and the reaction was immediate...please write the next bit! I did and I have not stopped writing since.

Web links and Buy links

www.carolynwren.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynwrenauthor

https://twitter.com/carolyn_wren

Buy links

Secret Cravings Publishing - http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=4&products_id=755&zenid=7f24742b99b04790f72052a72ad029c5

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GRM4O8E

Barnes and Noble -http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghosts-of-grace-cottage-carolyn-wren/1117448908?ean=2940149013326

All Romance e-books - https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-ghostsofgracecottage-1351248-149.html

Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/384292

iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ghosts-of-grace-cottage/id775411020?mt=11

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Undercity (Major Baahjan #1) by Catherine Asaro

Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

BOOK ONE IN A BRAND NEW SERIES by Nebula and Hugo Award Winner Catherine Asaro set in the world of her Skolian Empire universe. In the galaxy-spanning future, Major Bhaajan is a tough female P.I. who works the dangerous streets of Undercity.

Major Bhaajan, a former military officer with Imperial Space Command, is now a hard-bitten P.I. with a load of baggage to deal with, and clients with woes sometimes personal, sometimes galaxy-shattering, and sometimes both. Bhaajan must sift through the shadows of dark and dangerous Undercity—the enormous capital of a vast star empire—to find answers.

I look for any book released by Catherine Asaro and the universe she created for the Skolian Empire is one of my favorites.  Undercity is a new series set in that universe.  I loved the book and how Asaro tied it to the previous books in the series. 

Undercity is filled with great new characters and several interlocking plots.  Everything is set in a world that adds a new dimension to the world building in the Skolian Empire.  There are three books in Undercity.  Book One is a previously published novella that introduces Major Baahjan and the planet where the story is set.  It is set in a time before many of the other books in the series.  Each of the books that follow build on everything introduced in Book One.

Undercity is a well written interesting Science Fiction story.  It will stand alone and is a good introduction to the Skolian Empire books for anyone who has not read the series.  I look forward to the next book in the series and hope there be more than one.

Baen published Undercity by Catherine Asaro in 2014.

I received an ARC of Undercity from Netgalley in return for an honest review.  I also purchased a copy when I bought Baen’s monthly bundle for Dec. 2014.

Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2) by Ann Leckie

Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

What if you once had thousands of bodies and near god-like technology at your disposal?

And what if all of it were ripped away?

The Lord of the Radch has given Breq command of the ship Mercy of Kalr and sent her to the only place she would have agreed to go -- to Athoek Station, where Lieutenant Awn's sister works in Horticulture.

Athoek was annexed some six hundred years ago, and by now everyone is fully civilized -- or should be. But everything is not as tranquil as it appears. Old divisions are still troublesome, Athoek Station's AI is unhappy with the situation, and it looks like the alien Presger might have taken an interest in what's going on. With no guarantees that interest is benevolent.

I loved Ancillary Justice and hoped that Ancillary Sword would be just as good.  It is even as it is different.  Breq is till the main character but now she is further away from being a ship with many bodies and more an individual who is still growing and changing.  There are so many strands to this story and while some are resolved more are left as hooks for future books.

Ancillary Sword is very character driven with Breq the one doing the driving.  There are some secondary characters from the previous books and some new to this book and each is seen through Breq’s eyes.  The writing is still first rate, the world building continues and plot still builds.  Leckie takes all of those stands and weaves a interesting and complex book that is hard to put down. 

I am looking forward to the next book and hope the high quality continues in the series.

Orbit published Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.

Mistletoe Wedding by Melissa McClone Blog Tour and Giveaway

Mistletoe Wedding

by Melissa McClone

ONLY 99¢ ON KINDLE DEC. 5 – 9, 2014

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Mistletoe Wedding

Event planner at the Bar V5 Dude Ranch, Meg Redstone is dreaming of a white Christmas with twinkling lights, sparkly decorations and strategically placed mistletoe. She loves making dreams come true for others, whether planning a holiday wedding or giving her young daughter the best Christmas ever.

Ranch foreman Tyler Murphy loves the holidays, but his newest employee has taken over his barn with her over-the-top decorations. He admires Meg’s desire to give her daughter the perfect Christmas while planning a winter wonderland wedding, but he wants to show her that a Montana Christmas is more than glitter and lights.

After raising his younger sister, an instant family is not on Ty's Christmas wish list. But he finds himself falling hard for the single mom and her little girl. Meg, however, is not interested in a romance with a cowboy like Ty, or any man. Getting her under the mistletoe is going to take a Christmas miracle . . . or a little help from Santa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

Her gaze kept straying back to the man walking next to her.

And she knew with pulse-pounding certainty.

All the rationalizations of why romantic feelings didn’t matter and why she was better off alone than in a relationship disappeared like a snowflake being caught on a tongue. They mattered, and she wanted those things badly.

With Ty.

She hadn’t meant to fall for him, but she had. Hard.

A shiver raced down her spine. The realization was unexpected, scary.

He shot her a sideways glance, which she knew because she couldn’t drag her attention off him. “You, okay?”

“Just thinking.” Of course, he would sense something was up. That was part of his appeal. He got her. The way he understood her daughter, too. If there was one man out there who was what she needed and Brooklyn needed, that was Ty Murphy.

Feelings and desires long buried rose to the surface. She was ready to stop saying she didn’t want more, want him.

“Know what you want?” he asked.

Meg swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Excuse me.”

“What chocolates you’re going to get?”

She sighed with relief. She thought he’d read her mind. “Salted caramels for the guys. I’ll have to see what Sage has in the display case before I decide what I want.”

Besides him.

“You can have more than one,” Ty said.

“I might want only one.”

“It’s Christmas. Don’t be so cautious. Live it up.”

If only she knew where he stood . . . Dare she ask?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

With a degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, Melissa McClone worked for a major airline where she traveled the globe and met her husband. But analyzing jet engine performance couldn’t compete with her love of writing happily ever afters. Her first full-time writing endeavor was her first sale when she was pregnant with her first child! Since then, she has published over thirty romance novels with Harlequin and Tule Publishing Group. She’s also been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award. When she isn’t writing, you can usually find her driving her minivan to/from her children’s swim practices and other activities. She also sends care packages to deployed service members and fosters cats through a local no-kill animal shelter. Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three school-aged children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house. They do!

Website: http://www.melissamcclone.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaMcCloneBooks

Twitter: @melissamcclone

Buy links:

Mistletoe Magic

Amazon:Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Mistletoe-Magic-Copper-Mountain-Christmas-ebook/dp/B00GUZ195O

Smashwords:

Mistletoe Magic is FREE on Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/380641

Kiss Me, Cowboy

http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Cowboy-Montana-Born-Rodeo-ebook/dp/B00NF0LNFI/

Mistletoe Wedding

http://www.amazon.com/Mistletoe-Wedding-Montana-Born-Christmas-ebook/dp/B00NPMPNE8/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Musing Mondays - December 8, 2014

TC is in the sun musing about the chipmunk she sees out the window.

Hopefully that is all she does.  So far this month she has presented me

 with two chipmunks - one alive and one dead but both in my bedroom.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week.…Musing Mondays is sponsored by Should Be Reading.

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to talk about something else.  

I am doing a happy dance today.  I have finished all of the December books I accepted for review.  Reviews are written and published on Goodreads, Amazon and my blog.  I have also cut down on the books I am accepting for review.  I admit I really went overboard on review copies this last year.  Now I am going to have time to read books that have been stacking in my TBR pile.

The Genome by Sergei Ludyanenko

Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

"The Genome" is a new science fiction thriller by the author of the bestselling Night Watch series. In the far-future world of Alexander Romanov, humankind is divided into "naturals" and "speshes"--those who have been genetically modified to serve a specific purpose. Alex is a master pilot capable of maneuvering the dangerous realm of space by communicating directly with his ship. He is about to take on the most mysterious and challenging mission of his life when he happens upon Kim, a teenage girl with a desperate secret. Out of a sense of friendship, he agrees to help her, but this decision will end in conflict and tragedy for dozens of worlds.

Serei Ludyanenko is a popular Russian Science Fiction writer. Quite a few of his books have been translated into English and published in the US.  One of those is The Genome.

 

This is the first time I have read a book by Ludyanenko and was not sure what to expect.  What I found was the kind of Science Fiction I grew up on.  A fast paced story filled with interesting characters and a plot that just kept getting more and more interesting.  While there is a lot of action the story is mostly character driven and the character that drives it is Alexander Romanov.  He is a “speshes” or a genetically modified human.  We meet him as he is released from the hospital after recovering from a horrible accident.  The story unwinds from there.  In part one the characters are introduced, in part two the job is revealed and part three there is a mystery that must be solved.  If it is not there will be a terrible war.

The Genome has great world building and plot development.  The characters were fleshed out and fit the story.  There were things that did not fit the customs of today and were a little uncomfortable to read but they did fit the world the story is set in.

The characters split up at the end of the book and I did not see any obvious hooks for another book. Guess I will just have to wait and see if Ludyanenko plans another book in this universe he has built.

Open Road Media published The Genome by Sergei Lukyanenko in 2014. 

I received an ARC of The Genome from Netgalley in return for a honest review.