Tag Archive | science fiction

Guest Post by Author Eliza Green @elizagreenbooks #exilon5series #dystopian @k8tilton

Welcome author Eliza Green for being my guest today. Eliza is author of Becoming Human: A Dystopian Post Apocalyptic Novel

Movie review – Brooklyn

I went to see Brooklyn several weeks ago, before it was tipped for an Oscar. Yes, I was probably one of the few who didn’t go to see a movie based on upcoming awards shows! The story begins in dear old Ireland in a town called Enniscorthy. Our protagonist, Eilis, (pronounced Eye- Leesh) played by Saoirse Ronan (pronounced Surr-Shah) is doing what most girls in Ireland did in the fifties: work in a dead end job in the local shop until they get married and repopulate the earth with dozens of children because Ireland, unofficially ruled by the Catholic Church back then, didn’t believe in contraception until women rebelled in the 80’s/early 90’s and the government were forced to bring it in.

So poor old Eilis is stuck in a town where the men are either farmers or mummy’s boys. She is offered the opportunity to live in America through an Irish priest and a church-funded scholarship. (Don’t judge Ireland too harshly by “Spotlight”s standards. Not all Irish priests were/are bad.) The priest is played by English actor, Jim Broadbent. He’s actually quite good so we’ll forgive the director for using non-Irish actors!

Eilis leaves behind a cranky mother and a supportive sister to live in a boarding house in Brooklyn with several other girls hell bent on mischief and a no nonsense house mother played by the excellent Julie Walters (not Irish, but that’s okay. Her accent and attitude is spot on :))

So poor Eilis is living the plain life in Brooklyn while her house sisters are living it up. Things change when she meets tough Italian plumber, Tony (aren’t all Italian Americans called Tony? :D) played by Emory Cohen. There’s a little bit of playfulness between the pair, which is refreshing as Ireland in the 1940’s didn’t have much of that. Things go well until Eilis receives a call that demands she return to Ireland.

This does not bode well for her relationship with Tony. She goes home with the promise to return to America and Tony, and settles back into her old life there. Her cloying mother and the claustrophobic town gets under her skin and the locals take a dislike to her colourful clothes (clothes in Ireland back then were brown, grey or black). She meets another man called Jim (why, oh why didn’t she meet him the first time? Things are getting complicated!).

Jim is played by the charismatic Domhnall Gleeson (pronounced Dough –nal). So Eilis has a tough decision to make. Should she stay or should she go?

Nick Hornby, a UK screenwriter (About A Boy and High Fidelity, two super movies), did a good job adapting this movie from Colm Toibín’s (last name pronounced Toe-Bean) book of the same name. It’s hard to capture the essence of the Irish. Many people try to do it, but most fail. There’s a unique quirkiness about our humour that can only be explained by someone who understands it. Nick does a good job!

My verdict? Slow moving movie, but it showcases some great moments of humour, sadness and unfortunate Irish bigotry in the form of the local shop keeper in Enniscorthy.

About Eliza Green

Eliza Green tried her hand at fashion designing, massage, painting, and even ghost hunting, before finding her love of writing. She often wonders if her desire to change the ending of a particular glittery vampire story steered her in that direction (it did). After earning her degree in marketing, Eliza went on to work in everything but marketing, but swears she uses it in everyday life, or so she tells her bank manager.

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, she lives there with her sci-fi loving, evil genius boyfriend. When not working on her next amazing science fiction adventure, you can find her reading, indulging in new food at an amazing restaurant or simply singing along to something with a half decent beat.

Becoming Human

Tasked with determining the threat level on Exilon 5, Bill Taggart hunts the alien he believes murdered his wife. But what he learns about the race living there forces him to rethink everything he believes.

Book Details:
Rating: 4.2 stars with 129 reviews
Pages: 359 pages
Release Date: December 18, 2012
Age: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/ Dystopian
Formats for review: ebook (.mobi, .epub, .pdf), print

Becoming Human: Buy links

http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Human-Exilon-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B00AOBIRIW

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/becoming-human-eliza-green/1114844018?ean=2940044371064

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/becoming-human/id621107993?mt=11

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/becoming-human

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/294429

Author Links

Website: http://www.elizagreenbooks.com

Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/elizagreenbooks

Twitter: @elizagreenbooks

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6859728.Eliza_Green

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/elizagreenbooks/

Books: http://elizagreenbooks.com/books/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Eliza-Green/e/B00AOJRHH6/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3?qid=1453404220&sr=8-3

Grab a free book!: http://smarturl.it/fmeuqq

The Branches of Time – Luca Rossi #scifi

Dec20

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Branches of Time

Synopsis

Rocks fall from the ski and kill everyone on the island of Turios except for three people: Bashinoir, his wife Lil and the Priestess Miril. When they go to bury the dead, nothing is there as if they people were vaporized. They stay inside Temple because it seems that provides them with magical protection.

Meanwhile, in another dimension called Isk, sadistic King Beanor is looking for a way around the curse that has his kingdom trapped. If his wizard can eliminate everyone on Turios, then the shield will be removed and the curse dissolved.

Opinion

I do not know even know where to start. First off, I am not one that reads a lot of time travel, multi-dimensional stories.

The story started okay. .Everyone but 3 people are dead and the survivors have to figure what they need to do next. But then the story jumps from different dimensions and even different time periods, it was difficult for me to follow.

Concerning the characters, I did not like Beanor and could not understand why someone did not assassinate him. I would have thought one of the wizards would have done that.

Bashinoir and Lil’s relationship could have been better if they would have communicated. There were too many misunderstanding and hurt feelings because no one was talking.

Miril did her best to keep Lil informed but I think that she should have included Bashinoir as well. Considering there were only 3 of them, there did not really need to be such strict separation.

I almost DNF a couple of times (sorry Luca), but I was intrigued enough to see how it ended. By the end, I could see how the author was trying to intertwine the stories together. However, the ending was not as satisfying as I thought it would be. It almost seemed like the book ended with a cliffhanger which makes me think that there is a sequel.

Should you buy? I’m not sure. So many people have given this book 4 and 5 stars on Amazon and Goodreads, that I wondered what I was missing. If you like fantasy and time travel, you might like this book. I honestly feel I am not the best person to recommend the book because I could not follow portions of the book which were probably integral to the plot.

Book details
Paperback: 158 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; First edition (June 13, 2014)
Language: English

Available on Amazon

Feel the Burn G.A Aiken #dragonkin #review #kLover @KensingtonBooks #TBRlist

Nov8

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Feel the Burn (Dragonkin)

Synopsis
Gaius is the Iron Dragon One-Eyed Rebel king and Kachka is a Rider, daughter of the Steppes.
Both are on a mission. Gaius is trying to find his sadistic cousin to exact revenge for her torturing his twin sister. Kachka is on a mission from the queen to put an end to the Charamnesind cult, a group of people who are disrupting peace by slaughtering priests in the temples throughout the land.

Opinion
To me, this book is not really a romance. Do not get me wrong, I thought it was great fiction with romantic elements. For the most part, I felt like it was a Game of Thrones type of book. There were all these different characters, tribes, and ruling groups that had to be explained. There were alliances between nations, provinces and obvious power struggles that had to be addressed. It was a ways into the book before the hero & heroine actually meet.

Props to the author for the elaborate world she created. This was not as simple as just dragons and non-dragons. There were people with various types of abilities and those with none at all.

Kachka was a hilarious multi-faceted character. She was a skilled hunter that was not used to just sitting around. She needed a mission or purpose to stay active. Her people, as a race of female chauvinists, looked down on males. Period. It did not matter if the male in question was stronger; he was still only good for one thing. Help her make babies. Well, two things.

As a result, she looks down on Gaius in the beginning. She is attracted to him and tells him that she will allow him to share her bed because it pleases her. Gaius should be offended at the way that Kachka talks to him (she shows no respect) but he cannot help but feel drawn in by the attraction.

I focused a lot on Kachka, because I love her character, but Gaius is just as well developed. He is a warrior and dragon, but at the same time, I could tell so much about him from the way he takes care of his sister.

There was so much action happening in this book that it is difficult for me to concentrate on one aspect. Don’t worry. It is not too convoluted that you cannot follow the story. My only regret is that I did not read some of the previous books in the series before requesting this one. I think that would have helped me to have a deeper context and understand the supporting characters better.

Should you buy? Yes! If you like strong heroines, Kachka is the one for you. She is a warrior in her own right and does not need a man to save her. Gaius and Kachka are definitely equals, even though it takes a while for her to see it that way. I am glad that they have a HEA and it is an entertaining story to see all that Gaius and Kachka experience along the way.

This story is a standalone but it you are like me, you will want to read the rest of the books in the series as well. This series is a world that you want to immerse yourself, especially when it is cold and rainy outside!

Book details
Series: Dragonkin
Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Zebra (November 24, 2015)
Available on Amazon

Ours to Save: ES Siren 9 – Shona Husk #ScifiRomance #netgalley

Aug21

I received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ours to Save: ES Siren 9 by Shona Husk

Synopsis
Micah and his daughter Sadie are on the ship Siren travelling to a planet that is going to be colonized. Since he has experience in agriculture, his skill set is seen as a benefit to the new settlers.

Felicity is imprisoned for her involvement as a radical Gaia Movement . As an explosives expert, she knows a lot of bomb making. Because of severity of her crimes, she is in a maximum security prison. She does not want her daughter to be stigmatized by the fact that her mother is a criminal, so Micah and Felicity keep their relationship secret.

Despite their best efforts, someone found out about their close ties and looks to leverage this information for their own nefarious plans. Threatening harm to the important people in her life was not a wise move. Felicity will do whatever she needs to do to ensure her family’s safety.

Opinion
At first this was difficult for me to get in to because it was not what I expected. I knew it was part of a series but I thought that it would still be okay to read as a standalone story. Logically I know this is book #9 of the series, but I was optimistic.

Once I was able to understand what this world was about, I was able to focus more on the plot. That being said, I think you are better off if you read some of the earlier books to get background for the story.

From Goodreads, here is the series in a nutshell

As a small fleet of ships makes their way toward a new colony the people on board find love and lust.

~~~Back to story~~~
Micah and Felicity were already in love when they were on their way to the new colony. For most of the story, I felt tense at the situation Micah and Felicity found themselves. Felicity’s feeling that Micah was too good for her and could possibly leave at any time, stressed me out. She loved him and could not understand why he was giving up a better life to love her back.

I felt sorry for Micah and Felicity. This is one of those screwed up situations where they cannot show in any kind of emotion that might prove how much they love each other for fear of someone trying to exploit the situation. Then someone did that any way.

Overall, I think that because the story picks up in the middle of their relationship timeline, there was not a lot of character development. I did not see this as steamy or sweet. It was raw in the sense that it deals with the realities of loving a person who is imprisoned. If a person likes that type of romance, they will love this book. I, on the other hand, prefer less stressful, more fanciful romances.

Ours to Save: ES Siren 9 Product Details
Print Length: 95 pages
Publisher: Momentum (July 23, 2015)
Publication Date: July 23, 2015

Accidental Abduction – Blood, Boobs, and Carnage #Blogfest #bloodboobscarnage

May18

I am participating in a blogfest called Blood, Boobs, and Carnage

The terms were simple- choose a movie, book, or television show that fits the theme. It can be any genre that fits the bill – fantasy, science fiction, action, adventure, western, thriller, etc. This Blogfest is hosted by Alex J Cavanaugh andHeather Gardner.

I chose the book Accidental Abduction

Synopsis
Tren is an alien that thought he was beaming up some fish from earth to sell on the universal market. He didn’t mean to abduct the human female too, but now that he has her, he wonders what to do with her.

Megan was drowning in the ocean after her boyfriend pushed her off a boat. Instead of dying, she is beamed up on to a space ship. While she knows she should be more subdued, she cannot resist being mouthy.

Tren prides himself in staying in control of his emotions and actions, but Megan pushes all his buttons and ignites his baser instincts. When she is kidnapped on purpose, he will stop at nothing to get her back.

Opinion
This book. Where do I even start? I guess I should explain why I chose it for the challenge.

Blood

When Tren decides that he is not going to deny how he feels, his enemies see kidnapping Megan as a way to manipulate him. THAT does not go well for them. He has no mercy when it comes to eliminating his enemies. Funny thing, Megan is gets a guilty thrill on the fact that he killing all these aliens to save her. She is trying to be shocked, but at the same time, she is like

Boobs

It is a romance.
Tren has no nipples!
And he says she is weird for only having two breasts.

Carnage

There is a line of entrails from evil villains that tried to kidnap Megan, but failed miserably. It is the wild, wild west in the universe and no one messes with Tren’s mate and gets away with it. She gets kidnapped twice and both times Tren is like

Overall, the book made me laugh. Tren was not trying to pick up a human to be his mate, it just happened. Megan was cheeky, brazen, bold, and audacious as ever. Tren tried to intimidate her, but she had nothing to lose. To be fair, he did keep threatening to sell her. She was just calling his bluffs. With all that sexual tension going on, there was only one way it was really going to go.

Book details
Accidental Abduction (Alien Abduction Book 1)
Length: 142 pages