Book Review: Cat Tales and Whiskers

Book Review:

Cat Tales and Whiskers: A Young Adult Paranormal Christian Novelette (Ages 10+)
by Ciella Naden

Book description: "When fourteen-year-old Ash is forced to move, the world as he knows it turns upside down. Soulville is a strange town, and the house his mom inherited from a distant relative should be condemned. It’s spooky. Possibly haunted. What Ash initially believes to be a string of bad luck has nothing to do with luck at all and everything to do with a demonic curse on his family. Does Ash have what it takes to break the curse, or will his life be cut short like those before him?"

I bought this book this morning, after a friend and fellow author on Facebook recommended it.

Written by a 13-year-old, all I can say is charming!! A few little formatting issues, nothing worse than extra blank lines now and then and I only noticed one misspelled word. A charming little Christian tale of generational curses and forgiveness. As long as you're still breathing, you CAN make that U-turn and this young author expressed it wonderfully in this short, interesting and easy to read paranormal story. I don't give many 5-star reviews, but this tale really caught me and kept me reading through the entire story. I hope to see more of this author. (RDJ)

Book Review - Waters of Darkness

I have been neglecting my blogs and my book reviews!
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Waters of Darkness 
4 Stars!


The dynamic duo of New Pulp action adventure -- with pirates!

Authors David Smith and Joe Bonadonna provided a copy of Waters of Darkness for review. To be honest, I've never really been into pirate stories, so I probably would've passed this by. I would have been wrong. Dead wrong!

This multicultural adventure on the high seas was another riproaring homage to old style pulp with a huge swirl of classic Edgar Rice Burroughs mixed with a dollop of Robert Louis Stevenson. Pirates, magic, revenge, horror and a little love mixed by the creative genius of this dynamic duo of the New Pulp movement made this a fast and fun read. This tale of cursed treasure and ancient evil is tightly woven together, with twists and unexpected turns as Captain Bloody Red Buchanan, his first mate Mose Cooper, Captain Crimson Kate O'Toole and their crews face destruction, dismemberment and death while unraveling the mystery of the lead coins, alchemy, demons and unavenged betrayals.

With plenty of battles between "me hearties" and "my uglies" against monsters, the undead and other pirates, the action is non-stop. My only uncomfortable moments were when the pirates called the Arab pirates "dogs." That did give me some pause, as there are some pretty deep and ugly connotations with that term. I had to get a grip and remind myself that it was and still is a common term used in reference to sailors and pirates. So I set aside my 21st century mores and simply enjoyed the tale for what it is -- a great story.

I'd rate this tale at "PG-13".