Review: Brightwing by Sullivan Lee

Description:
Brightwing, a criminal love story, is a contemporary action/adventure with a touch of romance. Brothers Edgar and Mallory Battle – one a gentlemanly criminal, the other a sociopath – are on the run after a violent escape. They take Lucy Brightwing hostage, not knowing she's a thief fresh from her own heist. Lucy leads them into the Everglades, determined to kill them. But when she falls for Edgar she must decide whether to risk her heritage and the future of her tribe to save the doomed brothers.
(From the author)

Details:
ebook, 314 pages
Published July 8th 2011 by Laura L. Sullivan (first published July 6th 2011)
ISBN 0012842540 (ISBN13: 2940012842541)
(Goodreads)

Review:
Lucy is the last of her kind, and doing a major heist to get the coin to buy her people their own land is her purpose in life, to recreate the Tequesta Nation and save her people.  It’s honorable in the sense that she’s saving a tribe, but she’s stealing to bring it to fruition.  This is a criminal love story.  It’s not a good girl meets bad guy, it’s bad girl with a moral streak meets bad guy who’s a product of his situation in life.

Mallory is evil.  I mean, he’s a fictional character, but reading about him makes my skin crawl.  I wanted to read over his parts of the book so fast to keep from the icky feeling creeping up my spine.  Lee did an amazing job and making him sociopathic without giving too much detail.  This isn’t a blood and gore story, it is after all, a love story.

A major component of Brightwing is the love story between Lucy and Edgar.  It was an unbelievable love-at-first-sight kind of thing.  Nearly, from the instant Lucy laid eyes on Edgar, she had feelings for him.  I found this hard to believe since she was on the tail end of her multi-million dollar heist, and Edgar and Mallory were running from the police.  Someone as distrusting as Lucy would not have instantly fell for Edgar.  It doesn’t seem to ring true to her character.  Now, what I do like about their story is how their relationship developed throughout their days in hiding.

The majority of Brightwing takes place in what will become Lucy’s tribal lands.  Weaving together (what had the authenticity to maybe be actual) Tequesta lore with the developing love story against the background of the Everglades makes a very interesting story!

There were some of the usual grammatical errors and “missing” words, but for an independent publish, Brightwing does not disappoint!  There’s some movie-quality stuff that happens in there!

4 Trees: Sexy, intriguing, & adventurous.

Get to reading,
Richard
 

*This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review*

Be sure to come back Thursday for an interview with Sullivan Lee and giveaway of Brightwing!

Review: Zombie Safari by Ben Cheetham

Description:
Survivors of a zombie apocalypse have carved out new existences on islands, only visiting the mainland to hunt zombies. But things start to go wrong. Zombies don't die as they should. Hunters go missing. A trip that's supposed to be fun turns into a struggle for survival when four men make a discovery that causes them to question not only what it means to be a zombie but what it means to be human.
If you're looking for a fast fix of zombies, blood and guns, this tasty little novella will be perfect for you

Details:
ebook, Published August 3rd 2011
url: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/78656
 
Review:
Ben asked me to review a different book of his, and like any good reviewer, I did some digging into his other works, found this as a free eBook, and, since it’s a short novella, I decided to use it as a sample of his works.

An interesting story is woven here.  We’re post zombie-apocalypse here, and zombies are hunted for sport.  Hence the name of the novella.  It’s quite different from other zombie stories I’ve read, where people are killing them for survival, and scared to death of them.  Here, they pay big money to hunt zombies.  The zombie are just as dangerous, just as deadly, and incredibly fun to hunt.  The paid guides have this down to a science.

Though slightly predictable, this makes a fun, quick, Halloween-themed read.  Go download it, read it, and keep an eye out on the blog for my review of The Society of Dark Hearts coming soon!

3 Trees: A quick, fun read…and FREE

Get to reading,
Richard

Review: 30 Poems, 30 Days: Inside a Poet’s Mind by AD Joyce

Description:

This poetry collection contains poems written during April 2011 for National Poetry Writing Month, and also includes my commentary about each poem's origin and my interpretations.
(From the author)

Details:

Available as a free download from Smashwords here.

Review:

Ms. Joyce contacted me about reviewing her book of poetry that was composed during National Poetry Writing Month, I took the challenge.  And then I challenged myself to read them, in one sitting.  Doable? I thought so.  And I did it.

I went through a phase in late high school and into college where I was really into reading poetry.  Then, with the required readings and study and 18 hours and 3 jobs per semester, reading anything that wasn’t course related fell by the wayside.  And reading poetry again hadn’t even crossed my mind.  It was fantastic to read poetry again.   Joyce’s poetry is a great reintroduction into the genre.

Have you ever read a poem and wondered what it meant?  Well, something unique about this experience is that AD Joyce provides commentary on her inspiration and the meaning behind the poem.  You’re not left to make scholarly hypothesis or musings about the meanings, they’re there for you!  Joyce feels that some, if not all, of the poems in her collection are not polished because they were written so quickly, but they seemed slick and well-formed to me.

I found it interesting that one form of poem Joyce discovered as a way to share poems on Twitter.  It still astounds me how influential social media has become, even poetry!

Thank you, Ms. Joyce, for sharing your poetry with me!

4 Trees: Interesting, Refreshing, & Individual

Get to reading,
Richard

About the Author:

A.D. Joyce is a poet/writer/editor living in New Jersey. Her blog, Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World, showcases her poetry and discusses topics such as the writing life, women's issues, and personal observations.
Blogs:
http://sweepyjean.wordpress.com
http://1plus1wednesday.blogspot.com
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/sweepyjean
http://twitter.com/1plus1wednesday
Facebook:
http://facebook.com/sweepyjean
http://facebook.com/1plus1wednesday

*This collection of poetry was provided to me by the poet in exchange for an honest review*

Follow Friday (15)

Q.If you could have characters from a particular book meet and form an epic storyline with characters from a particular TV series, which would you choose and why? 

A.  Hahahaha!  This is such a great question!  Hmmmm… let me think…[please standby while the gears turn]…GOT IT!  Are you ready for this?






Jessica Fletcher and Stephanie Plum.

Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher & Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum

I can only imagine what hilarity might ensue with these two on the case.  Who knows what kind of madness they would get themselves into!?!  It would almost be a comedy of errors…and so much FUN!

Get to reading,
Richard

Be sure to check out my GIVEAWAY!


*Follow Friday is a blog-hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read*