Book Review: Dead Wrong (Thorns and Fangs #4) by Gillian St. Kevern

Title: Dead Wrong: Thorns and Fangs, Book Four
Author: Gillian St. Kevern
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: February 26, 2018
Heat Level: 3 - some sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 110100
Genre: Paranormal, LGBT, Vampires, Werewolves, Alternate Universe, Demons, Occult, Suspense

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38235121-dead-wrong

Synopsis: 

Nate’s no supernatural expert, but even he knows a murdered man coming back to life to kill him can only mean one thing—the necromancer is back and out for revenge.

Recruited by Department Seven in a desperate attempt to stop Peter before he claims new victims, Nate quickly realizes he’s in way over his head. His powers are failing him, he’s haunted by Peter’s ghost, and he can’t even remember how he stopped Peter the first time—or why he feels that someone very important is missing from his life.

Ben is fighting for his afterlife. Trapped in the supernatural version of solitary confinement, he knows freeing himself will destroy New Camden’s fragile peace—but what choice does he have? The longer he spends in his magical prison, the harder it becomes to resist his inner vampire. But if Ben wants to help Nate prevent Peter taking over the city, he has to prove himself to his sire—Saltaire, a thousand-year-old vampire with no qualms about using his immense power to suppress Ben’s free will.

As the casualties mount and the city descends into chaos, Ben and Nate must overcome their worst fears and impossible odds—or be written out of existence entirely.

My Review:

I believe that this is the last in the Thorns and Fangs series, although I could easily see how the story might continue. I'm sad to see the last of Nate and Ben. Over the last couple of years, they have wormed their way into my heart.  Nate is by far, one of my favorite queer characters that I've stumbled across and primarily because of his supernatural abilities, which relates to plants. I won't really go much further than that, otherwise, I'd spoil everything. But I have hundreds of plants, and so there's a secret part of me that wishes I could be Nate.

In this installment, Ben, our conflicted vampire, has been entered into New Camden's Final Register. New Camden is the city where the story takes place, and it has a very high population of supernatural folk. In order to maintain law and order, and to protect both supes and normals alike, there are a series of books that have been spelled that maintain a classification system, as well as carrying out the worst of the worst sort of punishments for supernaturals. If you're entered into the Final Register you only exist to yourself. It's a permanent solitary confinement. At the end of Life After Humanity - book three in the series - Ben is entered into the Final Register. The final installment in the Thorns and Fangs series sees Ben and his struggles while on the Final Register, all while not being remembered by anyone, the effects of that type of confinement, Nate's reaction to all that, all while attempting to figure out why or how the Necromancer has returned from the dead, or has he?

I highly suggest St. Kevern's books. They are clever, well written, imaginative and she knows how to paint an interesting world. St. Kevern has another series called Deep Magic, and I'm anxious to get my paws on that.

Rating:

Available At:

NineStar Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/dead-wrong/

Amazon: http://hyperurl.co/keiez4

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/789722

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dead-wrong-gillian-st-kevern/1127941397

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dead-wrong-37

Meet The Author:

Gillian St. Kevern is spending Christmas in her native New Zealand, where the seasonal festivities include pavlovas, walks on the beach, and a distinct lack of sweaters, seasonal or otherwise. She will almost certainly get sunburnt at some stage.

Gillian reads and writes a variety of genres. She’s a huge fan of paranormal with an emphasis on vampires. The third and fourth books in her vampire series, Thorns and Fangs, are due for release in January and February 2018. She also explores Welsh Mythology in the on-going Deep Magic series. In 2018, she plans to explore another beloved genre―vintage mysteries. She loves discovering new books and authors, so please get in touch if you have any good book recommendations to share!

Author Links

Website: http://www.gillianstkevern.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gillian.stkevern

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GillianStKevern

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/gillianstkevern/

Book Review: Seven-Sided Spy by Hannah Carmack

Title:  Seven-Sided Spy

Author: Hannah Carmack

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: January 15, 2018

Heat Level: 1 - No Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 75800

Genre: Suspense Thriller, abduction, historical, spies, revenge, gay, lesbian, secret agents

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37562881-seven-sided-spy

Synopsis:

In the midst of the cold war, the CIA’s finest and most fatal female agent, Diana Riley, vanishes. Kidnapped by the KGB and taken to the backcountry of North Carolina, she and her team of unsavory partners are forced to undergo illegal experimentation.

But, when the experiments leave them horribly deformed and unable to reenter society without someone crying monster, the previously glamorous and high-maintenance spies must escape KGB captivity, and avoid recapture at the hands of Nikola, a ruthless KGB agent with an intense and well-justified grudge against her former flame.

  

My Review:

I’ll be the first to admit history is not something I excelled at, so the time frame of Carmack’s Seven-Sided Spy – the Cold War – isn’t something I have any familiarity with. Having said that, Carmack’s use of slang and descriptions of fashion plunged me into the early 1960’s.

I’m also not a huge espionage-thriller type of guy, that’s more my husband’s shtick. But living with someone who loves that genre means I have had the opportunity to watch every single one of the James Bond movies, and let’s face it, when we’re talking Spy stories, everyone immediately thinks of 007.

What drew me into reading this story was a description I had seen, promising spies with X-men like abilities. Being a huge fan of the X-men, I had to give this a go.

Seven-Sided Spy is laid out quite different in that it follows Diana Riley, Codename: Hera, also known as “the goddess” through a rather tumultuous and dangerous job, fighting off Russian KGB agents, using all her feminine charms and deadly hand-to-hand combat skills. But Diana isn’t the only character that’s given page time. In fact, there are seven different spies, each with their own backstory. Carmack’s ability to create detail-oriented scenes is spectacular, which is surprisingly adept considering this is her debut novel. I got lost in the richness of the stories as they unfolded, and I was completely immersed in each of them. These sections of the book were by far, my favorite. Of note, I totally enjoyed Rigan Hevel, Codename: Marco and Sergei Durova, Codename: Kal’s histories. Not exactly sure why perhaps they felt more relatable to me? Regardless, definitely spots in the book I savored.

There’s a constant struggle back and forth between all of the various characters. Small victories and then followed with earth-shattering losses. Our heroine and her colleagues are captured by the enemy and then experimented on, which ultimately ends in our heroine and her associates developing super-human abilities. Unfortunately, it also means that their physical appearance is altered into inhuman forms making them unable to return to life amongst the regular population.

From there, I’m not saying much more, otherwise, I’ll ruin the twists and turns that this book takes.

There’s a decidedly steep learning curve while reading this book. Each of the characters goes by not only their given name, but also their codename, and some even have nicknames. I found myself flipping to the front of the book where the author has laid out each character and their codenames. At times, it was difficult to keep them all straight.

I also had some mental backflips to do as the timeline of the story not only occurs in the early 1960’s but also jumps further back into history as snippets of the characters former lives are revealed. If you like flashbacks, this is the book for you.

All in, the story is steeped in characters and lively with action, but sometimes a bit of a brain twister to keep everything organized.

Rating:

Available at:

NineStar Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/seven-sided-spy/

Amazon: http://hyperurl.co/nwcqdf

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/772934

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seven-sided-spy-hannah-carmack/1127744317

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seven-sided-spy

Meet the Author:

Hannah Carmack is a writer and spends most of her time connecting reluctant readers and bookworms alike to the world of literature and science. Although living with an auto-immune disease is difficult, she finds power in using her writing as a way to convey the world that people with disabilities live in to people who may not fully comprehend it. Her debut novel, Seven-Sided Spy, will be hitting shelves this January with NineStar Press.

Author Links:

Website: http://hannahcarmack.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/manlyhamm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manlyhamm/