A Ranger’s Tale by Mysti Parker

This reader won this delightful tale in a book contest Hunger Games Read Along Event at http://read2review.com/

From the first page to the last, it was an entertaining tale of a young woman birth into a family of royalty and wizardry has her life destiny changed when a misfortunate accident takes her brother, the heir to the kingdom. She is given the responsibility of carrying the family’s name and reputation as a mage a powerful wizard to continue the linage of the generation. She is a fiery restless soul and when forced to do something against her nature; it was the last straw and she takes her destiny back from her controlling father. She desires to leave the kingdom and see the world, not trapped behind the walls of her castle...

She sneaks out pass the guards on one adventure where she meets a dark handsome man who saves her from being taken hostages by foes and pirates. Meeting him starts her on a wild passionate lusty and worldly education in romance, relationships and the fine art of defensive fighting; using the bow and arrows, survive in the woods and learn how to track and hunt animals for food. She rebels against her destiny and throwing caution to the winds plans her final elopement from her the destiny she desires not and begins a new start. Live her dreams, not her father’s...

The story is written with highly emotional and intimate scenes of powerful sexual chemistry between her and the dark stranger. They are attracted to each other and bond as soul mates. He is cold and distant with her but as the reader turns the pages the relationship heats up and moves to a more personal connection. He is her lover, protector and the man of her dreams. They separated for a while, she is waiting for him to return from the seas; the days stretch into long nights and no word of his existence arrives. Until the dreaded day a telegraph arrives informing her he was lost at sea. Her world crumples and she is lost without him. The author adds more surprises and twists that compelled this reader to not be able to put the book down.

The story continues on as life continues on but the reader’s heart was crying for Galadin, a hero lost at sea and Caliphany’s grief at losing her life soul mate.
This excerpt caught this reader’s heart;

“It was here that my life truly began, when the floodgate opened my heart to the possibilities of love and loss. Some of the best and worst days of my life had happened since Galadin rescued me that day. But without the good times and bad, I may have never experienced true love, sacrifice, the powers of forgiveness, and the consequences of guilt. Even in my weakness, I knew I was a stronger person now because one man decided to step into my life and save me from myself.”

The story continues with some dramatic events and transformations that pulled this reader along waiting in anticipation to see what would be the next action in Caliphany’s future and will she find happiness and peace ever again.

This story’s setting was creative blending in with elves, mages, faeries, kings, and other colourful characters. The healers and the magic community was a pleasure additional. Plus the sailing ships moving through the ocean with the fear of a pirate attack at any moment kept this reader on the edge of her seat and appreciated the author’s creativity of mixing so many concepts and write such a magical fantasy romantic adventure on the high seas and in the royal kingdoms of those days. I goggle her Amazon Author page and she has many five stars reviews and more works in progress. She deserves them. I was pleasurably delighted with the story and bless my lucky Irish four clovers to have won this gift.

This reader believes Mysti Parker is a rising star and this is her first story in her the paranormal fantasy romantic series’ very entertaining with wizards, paladins, elves, trolls, and other worldly creatures, royalty, a sweet romance, betrayal, and new beginnings with locations of faraway lands and very charming; good and evil characters fighting each other. This tale was suspenseful and poignant at the same time. .

Good News: Look for more romantic tales from her fantasy world of Tallenmere, where magic, passion, murder, and mayhem are a part of everyday life coming soon.

Alert: This is a fantasy romance, not intended for children or teenagers. Contains adult and sexual situations, violence, and mild profanity.

http://www.amazon.com/A-Rangers-Tale-Tallenmere ebook/dp/B004XJ5EI2/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

Another link to explore is http://www.mystiparker.blogspot.com/

Highly recommend this book with a glass of wine to put your feet up for a while; disconnect the phones, all distracting devices and lose yourself in a high seas adventure of fantasy and romance and destiny transformation, you will not be disappointed..

Daisy Dawson on the Farm by Steve Voake and illustrated by Jessica Meserve

A cute short story book with entertaining charcoal drawings of farm animals and other drawings related to the plot. It is light reading and has a moral written throughout; if there is a problem, vent about it, accept it and then created a plan to solve it. The farm animals are faced with a life situation and the charming Daisy Dawson becomes the team leader and organized them into a comedic cooperated team to think of strategies that will solve the problem.

My children are in college but if I was a grandmother this would be a choice to read with my babies. It has cute little songs in-between the pages and as a reader I was thinking what would be the perfect music tune to listen and sing by as we read this as a family. It is light and charming and a treasure to add in your library with a moral teaching that all little children and even adults who need a refreshing break from stress could enjoy.

As a reader I like the scene when Daisy and the animals received insight to how precious mother nature and the human connection is to each other and what they could do to help one another survive. The added elements of the bond between life and nature were a vital component written into this tale. It even includes dancing to the rhythm of nature’s sounds. This part alone if my children were toddlers would interested me in saving this book for rainy and mom I am bored days. There is so much in this little story that can entertain adults and children happily for quality time together. Oh the good news there are ha others books in this amusing series.

I was curious and asked my teenager could ebooks be attached by computer to a large screen television, "of course mom" I was verifying it so I could save this cute story on a flash drive, for just maybe in the future and shared this delightful tale and other with them; I am discovering these types of books could teach reading, learning valuable life lessons , and includes singing and dancing, what a wonderful way to spend a memorable time with the ones we love. Highly recommend this book and others in this series for a mini break and to create life-time memories and spending quality time with the children is a gift not to be taken for granted.

This is the link http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1406327484/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img
As a mom of three teenagers, who survived through the difficult times of bored days I could not believe this little gem has not been reviewed before I came along. Please go check it out if you are looking for a delightful treat and look forward to enjoying memories with your babies for they grow up too fast.

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=childrens&action=display&thread=1180#ixzz1oYssj9Eq

Shadows by Cheree Alsop

Is a powerful supernatural story that tugged at this reader's heart strings. It is an inspiring story about seeing beyond the surface and look beneath a creature/person's real essence. Treat one with respect, kindness and honor and it will be pay back with rewards. This tale is about creatures all that are separated and suspicion of each other. This is a folk-lore about discrimination and judging others because they are different from one another and need to learn to live in harmony because of dangerous foes and how heroes achieve that mission. It is full of excitement, adventure as the lovely Nexa is held prisoner because she is of the race that was born from two separate cultures and doom to a life of being a slave to the higher pure class of creatures.

She is feisty and rebellious and is whipped for every infraction she breaks. She has a strong will and challenges the guards every opportunity she can. Then one day she is exploring hidden caverns sneaking around breaking out of her cell hoping not to get caught and punished severely and a charming mysterious man hears her make a noise and looks behind the wall denies seeing her; she is relieved and sneaks back to her cell. Only to be punished over and over again, it does not break her spirit.

One night strangers come and kidnapped her, she is frighten but is feisty fighting back and her life is about to embark on a transforming journey through dangerous events. To experience life changing miracles of occurrences which make her realized she is not trash to be discarded but an powerful and beautiful creature whose purpose is to shatter all stereotyped beliefs about the various cultures and bring peace to their world. This author has extracted a tender subject and created a supernatural fantasy about seeing beyond the surface of an individual and see what is inside them and accepts them for who they are.

It is full with suspense as the races of Luminos or Nathos and Duskies will have to compromise to fend their lands and families against the fierce flesh eating cannibals creatures, the Sathen seeking their next meal. The Luminos, the Duskies and others gather together to defeat their enemies and protect their families and loved ones. Also the romantic scenes would make a girl sworn over the handsome prince Axon and his gentle ways. The fights between allies and foes and blood lust would attract the male readers.

The conclusion was so powerful and scary this reader was sitting on the edge of her seat, gasping in surprise at how close the characters came to losing their lives, the scenes were so real thinking how that was close, or that must of hurt, as they planted their sharp teeth into her or his skin and other blood curling scenes.

It was emotionally surging at points, climatic at others and sad at some when they lose their comrades to the battles. The plot is set in the ancient days of the Vikings conquering the lands. The Kings their Queens and royalty blood fighting in battles to protect their loved ones and lands. Kings and Queens and royalty blood that must be saved at all costs and the stranger no one accepts until she shows her true courage and defends her people and lands and proves herself worthy of her heritage.

In the author's words; I looked up sharply and he gave a small smile. “We heard about what you did at dawn to save the ship from mutiny. Who knows how many of the other boats would have followed if you hadn’t stopped this one.” He looked at his companions again, obviously embarrassed by the rush of words.

The one to his left held up a hand and the first Nathos shut his mouth gratefully. “What my friend is trying to say is that your act of bravery saving both the Nathos and Luminos aboard this ship has done much to ease the tension between our races and that of the Duskies.”

I stared at him. “Even after the attempted mutiny?”
He nodded. “You would be surprised. We come from a society where leaders are obeyed without question."

As the Amazon book description states this reader wholly agrees with the statement; "Epic, stunning, and absolutely mesmerizing, Shadows is the unique and original story you have been waiting to read". This is definitely a book that I would read again just to savor all the details I missed.

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=supernatural&action=display&thread=1173#ixzz1o5MjVhuR

The Tourist ...damaged goods by Jack Everett and David Coles; Highly smashing and spellbounding

A mystery that will keep you spellbound.

The Tourist is a modern day entertaining tale about a Sherlock Holmes detective story with colorful characters, a mystery unraveling around an operator who became a victim of shady culprits who used him as a killing machine against terrorists and other war causalities. After an injury he is locked away in an asylum and his superiors used manipulative medications that messed with his brain chemistry and confuses his perception of reality causing amnesia and flashbacks which disoriented his judgment of right and wrong.
He escapes from his jail and goes back to the United States where his impulses of fight and flight are triggered. He becomes a serial killer and the American and British security forces are on a chase looking for clues to locate this madmen before he murders again. In his travels he has one goal and that is to find what he craves and no one is going to stop him from attaining it...

This story was a light and easy read to follow with all the descriptive characters adventures and a hint of a possible relationship mixed in. This kept this reader enthralled with it to the conclusion of the investigation as the British copper and an American sheriff cooperate together to capture an evasive and clever killer.

In the author’s words “Anything been touched or moved?”
“You should know me better than that by now, none of us has touched anything. The boy, the woman’s teenage son, found her. He said he phoned the doctor as soon as he saw her color so I don’t think he touched her either. Oh, he found that knife on the floor, it’s his Mother’s and he just picked it up.”
I moved carefully around the room, noting the position of the body, the clothes lying on the floor and stopped when I came to the knife resting on the bedside table.

This genre is not usually my first choice but this author’s writing and humor in solving the crimes has convinced me to read more like this from this writer in the future. His descriptions of Leeds and surrounding territories had me transported to the little towns and villages in my mind. A sweet tea and crumpet and a warm fire is all you need to let your mind wander and wait in anticipation for the finality and the promised twist. You will not regret reading this gripping tale.

Available at Smashwords.com
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/86557

Also available at Amazon.com and other retailers.  A nice gift for the holidays and Sherlock Holmes Fans.   5 stars