The Door Beneath

The Door Beneath by R. P. Momsen

The Door Beneath

10 year old Alex and her 8 year old brother thought they were going to their Grandmother’s for a magical Christmas holiday.  Magical is exactly what they experienced.

After arriving at their Grandmother’s house and settling in for the night, they awoke to a mysterious sight.  Being inquisitive youngsters, they followed what they saw, only to be amazed.  Beautiful scenery, talking animals, castles that could not possibly be as large as what they seemed from the outside.

They meet a Baron and a Prince and are treated with the greatest of kindness in every way.  They have been taught to be kind themselves and find they are the key to solving a devastating problem.

Written through the eyes of the children, you can imagine their surprises at every turn along the way.  Very good young adult read.  My only problem was the transfer to an e-reader version was the page numbers appeared mixed in the text.  Otherwise, a nice fantasy read.

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Light & Dark: The Awakening of the Mageknight

Light & Dark: The Awakening of the Mageknight by D. M. Fife

13 year old Danny is a typical boy of his age.  Not the most popular kid in school, but has some good friends.  Starting his new school year for the 8th grade, a new girl in school, Sabrina Drake, catches his attention.  Danny and his friends like to play a card game called Knights, which had 3 factions, Light (good), Gray (neutral) and Dark (evil).

After fighting in school one day, Danny has detention and needs to stay after.  Once relieved from detention, he starts to leave school but is sidetracked with an earthquake type shaking and strange noises.  He could never have imagined what he saw in the schoolyard - a dragon fighting a shadow.  He soon discovers the dragon is the new girl in school and the card game is actually a battle that exists in life.  Danny has a special power that allows him to “see the light” and he must choose if he wants to ignore this gift/curse or help defend others.  He chooses to help defend others and goes through training to learn how to fight, along with some of his school friends.

In the spirit of good vs. evil, the Light vs. the Dark, Danny and his friends learn many things in this faraway land, along with the typical who do who believe and trust and who not to.  Danny and his friends learn quite a lot in their first year as squires.

Very well written, flows nicely and keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next, with a great mix of characters of all sorts, humans, elves, etc.  This is a good read for young adults, as well as adults, the way the Harry Potter series was good for all ages.  This is a story that may not have left you with any sort of a cliffhanger, but definitely has the potential for more adventures for Danny and his friends.

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The Lost Pearl

The Lost Pearl by Lara Zuberi

Who could ever imagine that one event could have such an impact on so many things during the course of your life?

Nine year old Sana lived with her family in Pakistan.  They were a happy family living the perfect life.  One night, before Sana’s eyes, someone killed her father.  Her father, a loving man who would always pass along “pearls of wisdom,” was loved by everyone.

Within one year, Sana’s mother remarried to a man Sana could not accept as her father.  Sana, even though still a child, moved to California to live with her aunt and uncle, who treated her as their own.  She continued through school and went to college to major in journalism, where she met Ahmer, and fell in love with him.

Eventually, Sana discovered who had killed her father.

Are you the type of person who would hold the hatred felt towards the killer and seek revenge in some way to come to that person?  Or are you the kind who was taught to forgive, and would you be strong enough to actually forgive that person?  And forgive yourself for what you think you have caused to yourself and those around you?

Learning to cope with a tremendous loss can be one of the hardest things anyone ever has to do.  See how Sana grew up to become someone her father would have been very proud of.

Very well written, as your emotions will feel as if you are Sana.  Good mix of characters.  My own concern was that the Kindle version did not transfer well from the written text.  The page numbers and the author’s name kept interrupting the story, making it slightly difficult to read.  All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and would recommend everyone to read it.

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A Potion

A Potion by Sandeep Patel

Although a good story line, not very good translation for those reading in English.  Some sentences had either words missing or not the way someone from the United States would read.

Written in sections as if creating a recipe or experiment.  The first is to introduce the characters (the ingredients), the dragon Joule and the Master who live in a castle and the people of the other lands.  Next is how the people are working toward launching someone into space toward another land in order to find a way to help the people survive what is sure to be death, (the utensils).  This theme continues as you read the remainder of the story, how the character, Sainapat, is launched to the new world, how he worked towards contacting the people of his previous world and how he worked with the people of his new world to survive their impending doom.

Very descriptive of the lands of all the worlds, and great explanations of galaxies, planets and stars.  The characters are very believable and you can imagine yourself with any of them.  Very good read learning how to work with each other and how others deal with the difficult possibility their planet is nearing oblivion, not giving up hope, but fighting to survive.

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Tripoli's Target

Tripoli's Target by Ethan Jones

I am happy to say I am one of a privileged few to have an advanced copy to read and review.  I hope you all are as excited as I was to read this great book.

It’s time to travel with our Special Agent in the Canadian Intelligence Service, Justin Hall again.  First, we froze with him while he was saving the world in the arctic in “Arctic Wargame”.  Now, in a cruel twist of fate, or maybe his boss, Claire Johnson, just has a sad sense of humor, we now travel to the heat of the desert in Tripoli.

Justin Hall and his partner Carrie O’Connor have been sent to Tripoli.  As in any good spy thriller, you never know who you can trust or what to believe.  Ever since 9/11, the world has known suicide bombers and the devastation they cause.  What was the mission this time?  More land rights, control over oil, assassination of a world leader?  Why does Justin always seem to be in the middle of the action, or the cause of it?  Justin reminds me of a James Bond character, always trying to do the good thing, but always seems to take the worst in a fight.

Every turn Justin and Carrie take is met with difficulties, from every side possible, including their own organization.  Who to trust, what to do, in an effort to keep the world leaders safe in their meeting, even if it means disobeying direct orders and taking on the enemy by themselves.

Will Justin save the day again?  Travel along with Justin and Carrie and you’ll imagine yourself sweating along with them as the author does a great time of the descriptions of the areas they travel.  You’ll have to read for yourself and see if Justin survives the heat of the desert, and the heat of the enemy.

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The Stolen Chalice: A Novel

The Stolen Chalice by Kitty Pilgrim

In the world of art and artifacts, everyone knows how priceless theses items can be.  What kind of a person would want to steal not just one item, but numerous items, located in numerous place, at the same time!  A mastermind?  A criminal, obviously, but what would you do with them since you cannot resell them?

The Stolen Chalice takes you into the world of the rich, the middle class doing their jobs, and the hard working lower class.  But who is in on the theft?  This type of heist needs so many involved in so many levels.

Travel the globe with archaeologist, John Sinclair, and an assorted cast of characters.  Written in great detail, you can imagine yourself there with them.

While the story is easy to follow and the chapters switch from one character/location to another, somewhere along the line, the theft of the chalice becomes a minimal point, while the other items take the forefront.  Well written and a definite page turner, I would recommend it for everyone looking for travel, adventure and some thrills.

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Inside the Glass

Inside the Glass by L.E. Teigland

Inside the Glass is the story of a child.  A timid boy named Peter Smythe, who never knew his father because he was a fireman and had died two months before Peter was born.

His teacher, Mrs. Flood, assigned the class to write an essay about their father.  How was Peter to write about someone he did not know?

Coming home from school, he sat on his bed when a clock fell and hit him on the head.  To his mother, he looked unconscious, but in Peter’s mind, he had fallen through the pages of a book.

In his dreams he went on journeys with his rabbit friend, Dave, and a man similar to the image of his father, Ponce de Leon.  They traveled through time and places, always meeting the same people in various forms, especially “Big Boy”, the bully of his real life school.

“Things are not always as they seem” was a phrase someone had said to him, and as he traveled through the mixed up pages, Peter did learn a lot.

Without giving away the ending, you will enjoy traveling along with Peter and his friends.  Written in very good detail, you can imagine the places he travels and the people he meets.  Great cast of characters and an easy to follow story line.  A quick read to be enjoyed by everyone.

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Unsinkable Mister Brown

Unsinkable Mister Brown by Brian David Bruns

A true love story!

How many men would take a vacation and travel thousands of miles to another country to visit a woman he only knew for three days?  How many men would give up their job to begin a new life on a cruise ship?  That’s what Brian Brown did.  Bianca lives in Romania but works on a cruise ship where life is hard work and long hours.  Brian fell in love with her and was willing to give up everything to be with her.  Unfortunately for him, things don’t always go as planned, and he could never have imagined how hard it would be to work on a cruise ship.  But true love conquers all, and through every obstacle thrown at him, Brian was determined to be with Bianca.  Cruise ship after cruise ship, he kept on going, waiting for the time when they could be together for more than just their vacation time.

Excellent descriptions of numerous places around the world, you can imagine being there with them.  Great cast of characters of all sorts, family, friends, co-workers and those determined to make life difficult.  You’ll be rooting for Brian all throughout the story.  But you’ll need to read it yourself to see if love conquers all and they finally end up together or not.

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