Month: June 2014


Jun
2014

Genreblend New Releases for July 2014

categories: New Releases

Here are some of the genreblended books coming out in July, 2014.  The focus is on blends with a SF, Fantasy or Horror element, but from time to time I’ll throw in a blend that I’m looking forward to from other genres. Genres are listed in my best estimation as to the order of prominence to the story. For example, if the first genre listed is SF, that is probably the first audience for the book. What are you most looking foward to?
     


Jun
2014

Restorer by Amanda Stevens

categories: Review

FANTASY/HORROR/MYSTERY/ROMANCE

Title: Restorer
Author: Amanda Stevens
Publisher: Mira, 2011
Series: Graveyard Queen, Book 1

THE BOOK: Amelia Gray is a young woman with an unusual job: she restores cemeteries for a living. Working in and around her home base of Charleston, she has built up a reputation as an expert in meticulous restorations of historic burial places. She learned the trade from her father, and grew up watching him work as a caretaker at a local cemetery. But it appears she inherited more than a professional aptitude from her father. (more…)


Jun
2014

Featured Blend — Fairy Tale Romance

categories: Featured Blend

There are many, many fairy tale-inspired novels out there (if you wonder how many there is  a pretty good roundup here) and many of them have some terrific blend-y things going on. Most commonly they are fantasy/romance blends, but you can find some great historical romances that lean on fairy tales as well.  Some of these are fairly straightforward in their retellings, others are more fantasy (or romance) novels that use the bones of the stories and go off on their own narrative journeys. These are some of my favorites.  Have I missed one of yours?

FANTASY/ROMANCE

 Daughter of the Forest  by Juliet Marillier (Six Swans)

 Beauty by Robin McKinley (Beauty and the Beast)

(more…)


Jun
2014

Thorn Jack by Katherine Harbour

categories: Review

FANTASY/ROMANCE

Title: Thorn Jack
Author: Katherine Harbour
Publisher: Harper Voyager, June 2014
Series: Night and Nothing, Book 1

THE BOOK:  Seraphina “Finn” Sullivan and her father have moved back to the small college town on the Hudson River where her father grew up, in part to get a new start after the suicide death of Finn’s sister Lily Rose. (more…)


Jun
2014

California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout

categories: Review

FANTASY/THRILLER

Title:  California Bones
Author: Greg Van Eekhout
Publisher: Tor, June 2014
Series: California Bones, Book 1

THE BOOK: Daniel Blackland is a thief and an osteomancer, able to use the magic imbued in certain bones to give himself power. Magical creatures like krakens and griffins are prized, but the bones of your fellow wizards will work as well. As a child, the ruler known as the Hierarch killed Daniel’s father in front of him, and Daniel has been running and hiding ever since. (more…)


Jun
2014

The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher

categories: Review

SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR

Title: The Burning Dark
Author: Adam Christopher
Publisher: Tor, 2014
Series: Spider Wars, Book 1

THE BOOK: From the moment decorated war hero Captain Idaho Cleveland arrives on the U-Star Coast City he knows something is not right. No one on board seems to have heard of him. Ego aside, the battle that he survived should have been known to anyone in the military, as it was the only successful fleet action against the Spiders. Ida is being eased out of the military, and this posting to the station is his final assignment. (more…)