#400 ~ Kalorama Shakedown

Kalorama Shakedown by Robert Bruce Stewart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Harry Reese Mysteries #3



I was very kindly sent a Kindle copy of this book by Robert Stewart in return for an honest Review.

The Novel was so redolent of an old black and white "gum shoe" movie, and it really bought back memories of Saturday afternoon snuggled up watching films based on plots like these when I was a kid. I really think that it would translate to a TV programme so well.

I loved the characterisations, in particular Emmie - her lines of dialogue were precious. The plot went along at a healthy clip too .... on the whole the work was funny, in places actually laugh out loud so ...... a big 4 Stars.

I will definitely be seeking out more in this series, the Harry Reese Mysteries. EDITED TO ADD:  Interestingly, upon updating the Review by Series list, I discovered that there is an Emmie Reese Series, I need some of those!


Product Details

As mentioned above, I was very kindly sent a copy by Bob Stewart in return for an honest review.

You can purchase a copy HERE.  The Kindle file is currently listed at £1.92 and the paperback copy at £5.42, both of which represent fairly decent value for money. 

Published by:              Street Car Mysteries
Number of pages:        274 pages
Genre:                       Fiction, Historical, Crime and Suspense
Reading Age:              Adult (contains no real sexual content)


Errors/Bug Bears

I know that I harp on about it endlessly, but I really hate "gotten", it's lazy so that was my main bug bear on this book.

There were in fact only two other errors, one of which is more punctuation:

Loc 275:  I saw a woman wrapped in furs leave the room where we had stopped.

I think it should be punctuated:   I saw a woman, wrapped in furs, leave the room where we had stopped.

Loc 3692:  Then she place her own bottle on the table.

Correct to:  Then she placed her own bottle on the table.


Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay

#399 ~ The Prophesy - Bakkian Chronicles

The Prophecy by Jeffrey M. Poole

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Book #1 of the Bakkian Chronicles



I'm going to brief with this Review, which was one of my DSOA picks from March 2013.

The starting book for a series I believe, and a fairly good read. I enjoyed it, and will be looking forward to finding out how the series develops. I definitely feel that there is mileage in the plot. The writing at times was a bit lack lustre though.

That having been said, it was not so bad that it lost any stars from the rating, therefore a healthy 4 stars from me.

It was littered with some errors and bug bears, and you can see the details of them on my Blog - Post #399 in November 2013.


Product Details:

This was one of my DSOA's from 31st March 2013, therefore I downloaded it for free.  You can purchase it HERE.  The Kindle file is listed at 77p (which is brilliant value for money), and the paperback at £7.07. 

Published by:  Hungry Griffin Publishing
Pages:           341
Reading Age:  Young Adult to Adult
Genre:            Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery and Magic
Contains no sexual content


Bug Bears/Errors:

Right at the start there was a recurring bug bear, the use of sir Steve, which drove me mad.  The Author used Lady Sarah, so why not Sir Steve?

Pileup a few times was another bug bear, when it should really be pile-up.

Loc 84: anymore.

Correct to:  any more.

Loc 844: ...love-of-his-life wife start laughing at him.

Correct to:  ...love-of-his-life wife started laughing at him.

Loc 1892:  He watched as the stupid male open their pack, ....

Correct to:  He watched as one of stupid males' opened their pack, ....

Loc 2336:  This feeling of doing this wrong.  I think I know what I where I messed up.

Correct to:  This feeling of doing this wrong.  I think I know what I where I messed up.

Loc 2461:  'pursuit' twice in one sentence.

Loc 2771:  The castle has finally quieted down.

Correct to:  The castle has finally quietened down.

Loc 5975:  'Nighttime' should be Night time.

Loc 6658: ... for quite a ways.

Correct to:  ... for quite a way.

Loc 7599:  Steve watched as the exorbitant amount of jhorun he had just expelled rain down from the ceiling above...

I strongly feel that this should be corrected to:   Steve watched as the exorbitant amount of jhorun he had just expelled rained down from the ceiling above...

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay

#398 ~ My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain

My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain by Rich Samuels

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






I was very kindly sent a free paperback copy of this via the Good Reads First Reads Scheme.

This wasn't the longest book, with a plot full of twists and turns. However, it made for it by being an interesting read with the plot focusing on not what will happen, but how your mind can work on your worst fears to make you imagine many varied scenarios of what might happen.  With a clear message that just because you assume somebody is out to get you, you should at least give them a fair hearing before you take flight.

I am always a sucker for a nerdy-quirky protagonist, so on the whole I found this to be an enjoyable read. Well written, with about two typos/grammatical errors - given there were so few I didn't bother to make a note of them.

I liked the way Rich writes, and would be more than happy to read other things by him. 4 Stars from me, I am sure you will enjoy it too.

Product Details

You can get a copy HERE.  The Kindle file is listed at £2.03 and the paperback for £4.75, both of which are good value for money in my humble opinion.

Published by:        RLS Ventures
Number of pages:  162
Genre:                 Fiction, Contemporary
Reading Age:        Young Adult/Adult (no sexual content)


Errors/Bug Bears

As mentioned above, there was nothing significant enough to merit mention.


Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay

#397 ~ Ronos

Beacon by Tyler Rudd Hall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Book #2 - Ronos Trilogy



I was very kindly provided with an Kindle copy by the Author, Tyler Rudd Hall following my First Reads Review of the first book in his series (Catalyst).

There was no awkward gapping, and this book started right after the end of the first book. Therefore, there was no change in the main protagonists, but there were some nice additional characters.

It was very nice to see that the same standard of writing was continued, and Tyler should be congratulated. The plot was moved on nicely, and I'm crossing my fingers that Tyler will be kind enough to let me have the final instalment in the Trilogy, as I need to know how the whole thing goes down!

I don't want to add any spoilers, as I'm keen for you to read with no pre-conceived notions, so give a try.

Most ebooks seem to have the odd error, and I'll be honest with you here, there were a few (not masses - as some were bug bears) - don't despair it didn't spoil the overall reading experience. I am very confident Tyler will put them right as a matter of priority.

Taking into consideration the way the plot linked in with the previous novel, the pace, characterisation and overall reading experience it's 4 Stars from me.


Product Details:

You can purchase a copy of the book HERE, the Kindle version is listed at £3.21 (which is reasonable) and the paperback at £14.56 (which is a little on the hefty side).

Publisher:      Booklocker.com
Page:            277
Genre:           Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Reading Age:  Adult


Errors/Bug Bears:

Loc 349:  More of a Bug Bear, I hate the use of "go" as in go rescue. Conjunctions are always preferred.

Loc 1110:  ....Mac desperately need to find someone name Janelle Stewart.

Correct to:  ....Mac desperately need to find someone named Janelle Stewart.

Loc 1223:  The space port was no doubt already at capacity and the wait time to dock would be longer than what Mac had time for.
they were,
In my opinion "what" is superfluous.  Correct to:  The space port was no doubt already at capacity and the wait time to dock would be longer than what Mac had time for.

Loc 2491:  Who's all there with you?

In my opinion "all" is superfluous.  Correct to:  Who's all there with you?

Loc 2907:  I got everyone into the container section and sealed them in the in the middle of the ship.

Correct to:  I got everyone into the container section and sealed them in the in the middle of the ship.

Loc 4359:  He grabbed Lynn's arm and started running towards the pull machine which.

The above sentence doesn't make sense, needs to be reviewed by Author!

Loc 4372:  Spread out like they were there was no way Mac and the others could stop all of them from coming up.

Correct to:  Spread out like they were, there was no way Mac and the others could stop all of them from coming up.

Happy Reading.

Hugs

Kay

#396 ~ Wyrdgrove

Wyrdegrove by Peter James Cottrell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






Nothing too "Wyrd" (see what I did there?) about this one - which was one of my DSOA picks at the end of March 2013.

I don't want to give any spoilers out, but a chain of events see Matt Wyrdegrove, injured US Marine, and his friend Jack (his socially inept friend) tricked into travelling back in time to the reign of Charles I and the English Civil War.

On the whole a decent enough read, and enjoyable, although I did find that the portion when they went back to the America a little on the slow side. However, the Novel as a whole piece worked well.

I believe that this is Mr Cottrell's second novel, and it would certainly translate to a Series - in fact I would love that.

There were a few errors, but not that many as to be distracting, and thinking about this for a few days I'd award it 4 Stars, if there were half stars around it would have got one of 'em. As usual you will find a list of the errors below.

Highly recommend if you like time travel, and especially if you like an historical twist.


Product Details:

As I mentioned above, this was one of my Daily Picks back in March 2013.  

It's currently listed HERE at £1.53 for the Kindle Download, which represents excellent value for money.

Publisher:       Indie Writer (Self Published)
Pages:           258 pages
Reading Age:  Adult, but with no real overt sexual content
Genre:           Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Time Travel, Magic, Action and 
                    Adventure


Errors/Bug Bears:

Loc 1844:  ...at the quays and find somewhere stay.

Correct to:  ...at the quays and find somewhere to stay.

Loc 2310:  "munter" and "proper double-bagger"

Bug bear:  would an historical sailor really have used those phrases?

Loc 3276:  ...fiddled with a draw and plucked out a sheaf of papers...

Correct to:  ...fiddled with a drawer and plucked out a sheaf of papers.

Loc 4189:  We are deep in Mattaponi country.  If you head south for the James River you we will all be dead before morning...

Correct to:  We are deep in Mattaponi country.  If you head south for the James River you we will all be dead before morning...

Loc 4332:  Is it so hard to imagine that a gorgeous Native American girl, no woman like that could possibly be attracted...

Correct to:  Is it so hard to imagine that a gorgeous Native American girl, no woman, like that could possibly be attracted...

Loc 4341 Bug Bear:  not sure a Native American woman of that time would have used the phrase "pee"?

Loc 5267:  Flames lick up the table legs.

Correct to:  Flames licked up the table legs.

Loc 5367:  What I mean is that it really bothers me that it doesn't both me, if that makes sense?

Correct to:  What I mean is, that it really bothers me, that it doesn't bother me, if that makes sense?

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay