A Tale of Heroes, Omnibus Edition

 

Publisher's Summary

A Tale of Heroes, Omnibus Edition contains:

Book one: Of Children and Dragons

DeFrantis is a young human girl living on the streets, trying to eke out a living in the sprawling city, and she has problems. First, after a botched attempt to steal a chicken, she’s on the run. Second, for some reason, someone other than the City Guard is trying to hunt her down. Finally, the poor kids she was trying to feed got sold off to slavers. She has to save them, but first, she has to find them!

Along the way, she gets help from strangers: Antonerri, a soldier turned heretic; Thissraelle, an elven mage girl; Granthurg, the studious giant; and Karendle, a half-dwarf wizard wannabe.

Book two: Of Wizards and Dragons

Thissraelle is a high elf, but she’s lived among the humans of Twynne Rivers her whole life. She ran from her home in the Wizard’s Guild Hall so she could find her heritage in the elvish city of Emberfire. But now an old saint is visiting her dreams and telling her to go find someone he called Heathrax. Her friends want to go back to Twynne Rivers, and her father, the Guildmaster, is trying to bring her home.

All the while, Tonklyn and the dragon Kirraxal are laying a plot to bring the kingdom to its knees, and Thissraelle is trying not to get caught in it!

Book three: Of Dragons and Kings

Deep in the mountains, the heir of an ancient line of dragon kings lurks, gathering his cultish forces and impatiently making his plans. The only thing he’s afraid of is a magical blade that kills dragons.

Eddiwarth’s in love with a girl from a family of strong wizards, but he barely knows how to control his own magical fire. If he can earn his name and prove his worth, maybe they’ll let him marry her. Finding the dagger and stopping the dragons would surely earn him that respect, right?

Tonklyn, the Chancellor to the ascending dragon king, also wants that dagger so he can prove his loyalty and bring all of his plans for power to fruition.

Can Eddiwarth and his friends find the dagger, and can he learn to “be the flame” before the kingdoms of Wynne fall, burning around them.

A Tale of Heroes (Omnibus Edition) by Mark Hansen and Narrated by: Andrew McDermott was a great book and an even better audiobook. I quite enjoyed the fact that this audiobook contained the whole series in one. I really liked DeFrantis and Thissraelle. While I enjoyed all three books, book one was my favorite I just really enjoyed listening to the narrator bring DeFrantis to life for me. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.

The Atlantean Horse

 

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Inside the Book

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Title: The Atlantean Horse: The Feathers of the Phoenix Book 1
Author: Cheryl Carpinello
Publisher: Silver Quill Publishing
Pages: 149
Genre: YA Paranormal/Supernatural

Blurb:

Ancient Mystery…Mystical Prophecy…Biblical Horsemen

One Epic Task

The Task: Retrieve the Five Feathers of the Phoenix to raise Atlantis so its people can return home.

The Chosen: Cousins Rosa & Jerome embark upon a perilous and personal quest to retrieve the first Feather. Rosa’s special gift, kept far in the Past, will be revealed, and Jerome will discover his.

The Opponents: The Four Deadly Horsemen of the Apocalypse will stop at nothing, not even murder, to possess the Feathers.

Join Rosa & Jerome as they risk all in their search for the First Feather!

Book Information

Release Date: September 23, 2022

Publisher: Silver Quill Publishing

Kindle: 149 pages; $5.99

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3eHdTmT

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Meet the Author

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I’m a lover of mythology, myths, legends, and tales from the ancient/medieval worlds. I enjoy exploring how these have transcended time/space to influence our world today. Myths and legends don’t fade away; they are just repackaged for a new audience.

As a high school English teacher, I continually challenged my students to find connections between today and times long gone by. Some took more digging than others, but the connections were always there. One of my favorites, Star Wars, borrows several concepts from the Legend of King Arthur. The Star Trek series goes even further back into the mythology of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt as well as others.

I write Arthurian Legend for young readers and teens (I never refuse to let mature readers enjoy my stories!). These stories exhibit what I consider to be cornerstones of that Legend: Courage, Honor, Loyalty, and Friendship.

My tales from Egypt and my new series Feathers of the Phoenix meld the ancient/medieval worlds with today. The Atlantean Horse (Book 1 of Feathers of the Phoenix) also brings the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse out of the Bible and into the modern world. They and my main characters are after the feathers of the Phoenix in order to bring Atlantis alive again.

P.S. I believe in magic and Unicorns!!

Website Link:  https://www.cherylcarpinello.com

Blog Link: http://carpinelloswritingpages.blogspot.com/

Twitter Link:  https://twitter.com/ccarpinello

Facebook Link:  https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.carpinello1

Goodreads Link:    https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2924554.Cheryl_Carpinello

Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/ccarpine1/

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My Review

The Atlantean Horse: The Feathers of the Phoenix Book 1 was a great read! I really liked both Rosa & Jerome in this, though I have to say that Roas was my favorite I just really enjoyed seeing her come into her own on the quest.

PETRA AND THE SEWER RATS (A Juno and the Lady Novella, An Acre Story, Book 1.2) by G.J. Kemp

 

Book Details:

Book Series Title: PETRA AND THE SEWER RATS (A Juno and the Lady Novella, An Acre Story, Book 1.2) by G.J. Kemp
Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +), 120 pages
Genre:  Epic Fantasy
Publisher:  TB5 Publishing
Release date:   August, 2022
Formats Available for Review: print - softback (USA and Canada), e-book (Gifted Kindle, MOBI FILE (FOR KINDLE), EPUB, PDF, Book Funnel Download, NetGalley Download
Tour dates: Sep 6 to Oct 17, 2022
Content Rating:  PG for a few fight scenes.  

Book Description:

‘You saved one girl, papa,’ Petra said. ‘Just one girl. The rest are living in the alleys. Starving, freezing, with no hope.’

‘I still don’t understand why this is bothering you so much?’ Ernest said.

Petra turned her head and stared out of the window.

A young privileged woman who knows nothing about the real world is thrown deep into the underbelly of Fairacre.

Petra and the Sewer Rats take us on a tale of how Petra forms the Sewer Rats then has to make an impossible decision. Does she save her baby? Or does she save the children of the alleys?

BUY THE BOOK:
(coming soon!)
AMAZON ~ Book Depository
BookBub

Meet the Author:

A nomad at heart, GJ has lived in nine countries across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His career has included working as a Divemaster in The Red Sea, a zookeeper in Israel, and a proofreader in Sweden.

Born with cerebral palsy, GJ has spent a lifetime trying to tie his shoelaces while standing up in the hope of not falling over. It is a constant challenge, but sometimes he occasionally succeeds.

​Finding the love for writing later in life, GJ spends most of his free time going for walks and dreaming of story ideas. He hopes to one day have a small place on the oceanfront where he can walk his dogs on the beach.

connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ twitter ~ tiktok ~ goodreads ~ bookbub

My Review

PETRA AND THE SEWER RATS (A Juno and the Lady Novella, An Acre Story, Book 1.2) by G.J. Kemp was a great addition to the series. I liked that it was a novella as it gave me a more in-depth feel of the world while also not taking away from the main series! I really liked Petra in this book as she made me want to keep rading.

Back to the Burgh and Beyond (The Owl's Nest Mysteries, Book 1)

 

Book Details:

Book Title:  Back to the Burgh and Beyond (The Owl's Nest Mysteries, Book 1) 
Author:  C.S. McDonald
​Category:  Adult Fiction, 208 pages
Run Time: 5 hours, 59 minutes
Genre:  Cozy Mystery
Publisher:  McWriter Books
Release date:  Sep 10, 2020
Formats Available for review​: audiobook (audible download), ebook (mobi for kindle, epub, pdf)
Tour dates:  Oct 3 to Oct 28, 2022
Content Rating:  G. C.S. McDonald's books are appropriate for YA readers as well as adults--no bad language or sexual content.

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Book Description:

​Meet Alexa Owl. She's returned home to Pittsburgh after a divorce to start a new life and a new business, The Owl’s Nest Couturier Shoppe. Much to her surprise, she's getting more than she ever bargained for: Detective Bobby Starr, and he's no ordinary sleuth. Bobby is an angel who's returned to Earth in hopes of earning his way into the Guardian Angel Squad. He's been sent by none other than Saint Pete to acquire Alexa’s help to solve three cold case murders he left behind. Except, here’s the catch: he’s only been allotted four days to solve the first case! How in heaven’s name is she supposed to do that? Alexa is a professional seamstress—not a detective. Bobby insists the only way to solve the first case is to return to 1953, and Alexa’s not in love with that idea at all!

Buy the Book:
Audible
Amazon ~ B&N
Add to Goodreads

Buy the Book:
Audible
Amazon ~ B&N
add to goodreads

Meet the Author:

For twenty-six years C.S. McDonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance. Classically trained at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, The Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, and many others, she became a professional dancer and choreographer. During that time, she choreographed many musicals and an opera for the Pittsburgh Savoyards. In 2011 she retired from her dance career to write. Under her real name, Cindy McDonald, she writes murder-suspense and romantic suspense novels. In 2014 she added the pen name, C.S. McDonald, to write children’s books for her grandchildren. In 2016 she added the Fiona Quinn Mysteries to that expansion. She decided to write the cozy mystery series that everyone, including teens and tweens, can read and enjoy. Presently, the Fiona Quinn Mysteries includes nine books with a tenth slated for 2021. The books are also available on audio, narrated by Maren Swenson Waxenberg.

Cindy’s newest venture is The Owl’s Nest Mysteries. Once again, she has set her cozy mystery in Pittsburgh and the female protagonist, Alexa Owl, is much different from Fiona Quinn. The Owl’s Nest Mysteries has a little grit, a little time travel, a little romance, and a whole lot of cozy!

Ms. McDonald resides on her Thoroughbred farm known as Fly by Night Stables near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Bill, and her poorly behaved Cocker Spaniel, Allister. 

Connect with the author:  Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook

Back to the Burgh and Beyond (The Owl's Nest Mysteries, Book 1) and Narrated by: Maren Swenson Waxenberg was a great audiobook. The book was a blend of supernatural, time travel. mystery genre mix, but that just made it exciting. I really liked the angel Detective Bobby Starr, but it was Alexa Owl that made the book come alive for me. I just really loved her character and her interaction with Bobby. The narrator did a simply wonderful job of bringing the story to life for my ears!

THE BONNE CHANCE BAKERY

 

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Inside the Book

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Title: The Bonne Chance Bakery
Author: Charlotte Rains Dixon
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 333
Genre: Romantic Women’s Fiction

Blurb:

All Madeleine Miller wants is for her new Portland business, the Bonne Chance Bakery, to be a success. But things get off to a troubled start when her husband Will runs off with an employee and starts his own rival bakery, leaving her hobbled financially—and romantically. Luckily, she has the help of the bakery’s endearingly gruff accountant, Jack, and his precocious daughter Daisie. Portland foodies love the bakery’s French macarons, but alas, their passion doesn’t add up to financial success.

And then one day, world-famous entrepreneur slash actor Richard Bishop appears at the bakery and becomes smitten with Mad’s macarons—and her. His offer to franchise the bakery concept feels like selling out, and Madeleine isn’t interested. But when she learns of the shady dealings her ex-husband used to fund the bakery, she’s forced to accept Richard’s money. She also succumbs to the lure of his romantic interest. Soon she’s catapulted into a world of luxury and excitement in Los Angeles as she supervises the opening of a second Bonne Chance in Hollywood.

But in her efforts to save the bakery, will she lose herself? Set in Portland, Los Angeles, and Paris, the novel illuminates the crazy path romance can take us on—and the circuitous route that will lead the way home. With its themes of identity, self-determination and following your dreams, The Bonne Chance Bakery is a feel-good novel with a serious message at its core.

Book Information

Release Date: September 28, 2022

Publisher: Independent

236 pages; eBook $4.99

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KWEBUt

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Meet the Author

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The great-granddaughter of pioneers who walked across the Oregon Trail, Charlotte Rains Dixon considers herself a westerner through and through. Many of her stories are set in her home state of Oregon, where her characters reside in fictional versions of her favorite wine area and coast towns, as well as Portland, where she lives. She is the author of the novel Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior and the forthcoming The Bonne Chance Bakery.

When not writing fiction, Charlotte teaches writing in the south of France, England, and around the Pacific Northwest. She also coaches writers privately. She is Director Emeritus and a current mentor at the Writer’s Loft, a certificate-in-writing program at Middle Tennessee State University. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and is the author of a dozen non-fiction books. Her fiction and articles have appeared in numerous publications.

Charlotte lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon, in a multi-generational home that is by turns boisterous and exuberant but seldom quiet. She believes no breakfast is complete without a crossword puzzle to work and no Happy Hour can actually be happy without popcorn.(Wine goes without saying.) Despite frequent stays in France, she regularly fractures the language. She is, however, fluent in Carney. Charlotte writes stories about places you long to live filled with people you’d love to know.

Learn more about Charlotte at her website, charlotterainsdixonauthor.com and be sure to sign up for her author newsletter at charlotterainsd.substack.com.

You can also connect with her on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Wordstrumpet.

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My Review

THE BONNE CHANCE BAKERY was a great read! I really liked Madeleine Miller and I felt for her when her husband ran off to start his own rival bakery, but I liked how she picked herself back up and kept working on her dream. I liked the twists and turns with the bakery that kept me reading to find out how it would turn out!

VALEN AND THE BEASTS (A Juno and the Lady Novella, An Acre Story, Book 1.1) by G.J. Kemp

 

Book Details:

Book Series Title: VALEN AND THE BEASTS (A Juno and the Lady Novella, An Acre Story, Book 1.1) by G.J. Kemp
Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +), 126 pages
Genre:  Epic Fantasy
Publisher:  TB5 Publishing
Release date:   May 16, 2022
Formats Available for Review: print - softback (USA and Canada), e-book (Gifted Kindle, MOBI FILE (FOR KINDLE), EPUB, PDF, Book Funnel Download, NetGalley Download
Tour dates: Sep 6 to Oct 17, 2022
Content Rating:  PG for a few fight scenes.  

Book Description:

Valen plucked the glass box off the shelf and gently placed it on his desk. Inside, a set of handcrafted metal circles linked to form the body of his new beast. He closed his eyes and dreamed of the Fairacre residents buying his latest creations.

A commotion outside Valen’s shop brings him back to the present. The Captain has caught the leader of the sewer rats and is parading her in front of Fairacre residents. Her fate will be determined by the townsfolk’s demands.

Valen steps in to defend the leader.

​A story of discovery, hope and courage, Valen and the Beasts is a journey of an outsider risking everything to stand up for the people he loves. Will Valen save the leader of the sewer rats? Will he show everyone his secret? Or will he buckle under the pressures of the old conventions?

BUY THE BOOK:
AMAZON ~ B&N ~ BAM 
IndieBound ~ BookBub
​Add to Goodreads

Meet the Author:

A nomad at heart, GJ has lived in nine countries across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His career has included working as a Divemaster in The Red Sea, a zookeeper in Israel, and a proofreader in Sweden.

Born with cerebral palsy, GJ has spent a lifetime trying to tie his shoelaces while standing up in the hope of not falling over. It is a constant challenge, but sometimes he occasionally succeeds.

​Finding the love for writing later in life, GJ spends most of his free time going for walks and dreaming of story ideas. He hopes to one day have a small place on the oceanfront where he can walk his dogs on the beach.

connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ twitter ~ tiktok ~ goodreads ~ bookbub

My Review

VALEN AND THE BEASTS (A Juno and the Lady Novella, An Acre Story, Book 1.1) by G.J. Kemp was an epic read! I liked the fact that it fits with the rest of the series, yet was also separate from it. This allowed me to dive right in without worrying about having missed any important info from the other books! I really liked Valen in this as he was the character that really pulled me in!

JUNO AND THE LADY (An Acre Story, Book 1) by G.J. Kemp

 

Book Details:

Book Series Title: JUNO AND THE LADY (An Acre Story, Book 1) by G.J. Kemp
Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +), 400 pages
Genre:  Epic Fantasy
Publisher:  TB5 Publishing
Release date:   January 2022
Formats Available for Review: print - softback (USA and Canada), e-book (Gifted Kindle, MOBI FILE (FOR KINDLE), EPUB, PDF, Book Funnel Download, NetGalley Download
Tour dates: Sep 6 to Oct 17, 2022
Content Rating:  PG for a few fight scenes.  

Book Description:

Juno’s beloved Petra is dead.

Petra’s replacement, the mysterious Lady, has put Juno’s best friend Tilly under a dark spell that has left Juno with nobody she can trust.

With only Chax, her kitten, for company, Juno escapes from her school to a town at the bottom of the cliffs.

A town ruled by men.

Alone, scared, and without friends, Juno feels an unknown power growing inside her. A power she knows she will one day have to harness. With all lost, a dark figure from within the shadows cups her mouth and whispers in her ear to keep quiet.

Juno joins her new friends but just as she starts to learn how the world really works, the ill-tempered Dr Viktor demands an audience.

Juno and the Lady is a young woman’s journey into a land of the old ways, where men rule, and women are property.

​With unlikely friendships, forbidden love and burning magic, can Juno change the conventions of old? Can she save the town? And will she figure out who the Lady truly is?

BUY THE BOOK:
AMAZON ~ B&N ~ BAM ~ Waterstones
Book Depository ~ IndieBound ~ WalMart ~ BookBub
​Add to Goodreads

Meet the Author:

A nomad at heart, GJ has lived in nine countries across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His career has included working as a Divemaster in The Red Sea, a zookeeper in Israel, and a proofreader in Sweden.

Born with cerebral palsy, GJ has spent a lifetime trying to tie his shoelaces while standing up in the hope of not falling over. It is a constant challenge, but sometimes he occasionally succeeds.

​Finding the love for writing later in life, GJ spends most of his free time going for walks and dreaming of story ideas. He hopes to one day have a small place on the oceanfront where he can walk his dogs on the beach.

connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ twitter ~ tiktok ~ goodreads ~ bookbub

My Review

JUNO AND THE LADY (An Acre Story, Book 1) by G.J. Kemp was the first book in the An Acre Story series and so far I have to say the series is off to a great start. I really liked Juno as a character I could not help, but feel for her and want to see where her story goes. I can't wait to read the next book in the series!