Review: The Shifters of 2040 by Ami Blackwelder

The Shifters of 2040 (Shifter Evolutions: Book 3) by Ami Blackwelder

***I received this book (digital copy) in exchange for an honest review and participation in the blog tour.  The blog tour is being hosted by The Bookish Snob Tours.


Amazon Product Description:
Book three begins the saga, The Shifters of 2040. From that the reader may choose the past or the future. You may also read the saga chronologically.

America 2040.
Three Species. Divided Lovers. The Race is on for Planet Earth.

Summary: Set in Alaska in 2040, Melissa Marn and Bruce Wilder must work under the iron fist of the SCM, while still trying to maintain humanity. Discovering a world of shifters and hybrids, the scientists must struggle with human prejudice and betrayal. With the original ancestors, dubbed shifters, still living on earth, humans are in the midst of a fifteen year old war. As the eldest hybrids, Unseen and Diamond, learn about humans the hard way, with the loss of loved ones and sacrifices, love on planet earth proves challenging.

With underlining themes of how prejudice breaks human connections and animal/wildlife conservation, this novel which has received rave reviews will leave the reader flipping through the pages.
My thoughts:
     The characters in this book stand out as what drives the story.  They are creatively developed and offer a whole new look at shifters.  Ami's shifters vary in many ways from what you think of when you hear shifter.  These have the ability to assimilate a variety of forms from human to more than one animal, but each has a dominate form that they can easily shift into.  Their original form is more of an energy than an actual creature.  The children - hybrids - are limited in that they each have one animal they can shift into and remain in human form until later in life.  I enjoyed the descriptions, she is very detailed.  It was interesting to me that they had different colored skin that had mottled colors as well.  I liked how she ties the story theme into modern prejudices that we still face even today.
     The military link is frightening - a thing of nightmares and as a reader I pray is just science fiction.  The control of the high up military personnel is terrifying.  I found my heart going out to Bruce in his attempts to get Melissa to break free of the hold of both the military and her father.  At the same time I found myself both angry with and feeling sorry for Melissa.  Sorry that her very identity and sense of self worth were so tied into her work and her father's opinion, and angry that she couldn't seem to dredge up the self confidence to stand up for what she truly believed in and wanted.
     This is an incredible story of the unwillingness of the human race to accept another group of beings because of their own fear and the shifters differences, and the struggle of the shifters to coexist and survive in a world where they are persecuted, hunted, and tortured.  
     This is the story of choices, consequences, desire, fear, hatred, power, control, passion, love, and sacrifice.  The emotional intensity of the characters as they deal with their lives is amazing.  The theme that children are the future is paramount in this story.  
     This was my first Ami Blackwelder shifter read and I can't wait to read the rest of the series!  My only question now is: Do I start with the past and read 2020 or do I look to the future and read 2060?  Don't miss the rest of The Shifter Evolutions series! 

Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

*NetGalley Book

Amazon Product Description:
In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her.

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch….

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.

Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help—and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.

But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on—even if it seems no one believes her.

My thougthts:
I couldn't get to this fast enough after finishing The Strange Case of Finley Jayne and  I was not disappointed.  I was already hooked before I finished the first page.  The author is descriptive, creative, and clever with creating both her characters and the world in which they live.  She is detailed to the point where you can literally "see" the story unfold, but never find said details tedious.  She has woven mystery and romance into a steampunk adventure.
The characters are incredible.  I can't even pretend to have a favorite, they are all so easy to love.  Each of the characters has a well-developed personality and the role they are given in the story is unique and yet vital to the others.  The relationships that unfold throughout the story fuel a wide range of emotions.  I love how they test the confines of society, sometime by their very natures.  
The depth of imagination that is required to create such a story astounds me.   

Review: The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kate Cross

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross

*I purchased this book at Amazon.com

Amazon Product Description:
Finley Jayne knows she's not 'normal'. Normal girls don't lose time, or have something inside them that makes them capable of remarkably violent things. Her behavior has already cost her one job, so when she's offered the lofty position of companion to Phoebe, a debutante recently engaged to Lord Vincent, she accepts, despite having no experience. Lord Vincent is a man of science with his automatons and inventions, but Finley is suspicious of his motives where Phoebe is concerned. She will do anything to protect her new friend, but what she discovers is even more monstrous than anything she could have imagined…

An ebook exclusive prequel to The Steampunk Chronicles.

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this story.  I grabbed it as soon as I heard it was the prequel to The Girl in the Steel Corset, so I could read it first.  Finley Jayne is a fabulous character.  I love the mystery as she wonders about herself.  I love that she lives by her own rules and that those rules are based on her principles and beliefs.  
Kady Cross cleverly weaves clues into the story and creates a wonderful tale.  I was pleased with the relationships that developed between Finley and both Phoebe and her mother.
This is a great, fast read!  If you are interested in trying out Steampunk for the first time - this is the perfect place to start, and if you are already in love with this new genre, you will have a blast with this book.

Blog Tour: Ami Blackwelder

The Ami Blackwelder Blog Tour is being hosted by The Bookish Snob Tours.

Welcome to The Wormhole and my stop on the 

Ami Blackwelder Blog Tour!

The tour is featuring both The Shifters 2040 and The Day The Flowers Died.  

Guest Post:

Five Star Review: The Day the Flowers Died is a Wonderful Holistic Love story. This book is a rare historical romance told with flare and passion. When I first received it I thought that it was going to be a dark and introspective sort of history of two people...but it is so much more.

This book, which is fiction relates what it would have been like for two people, with totally opposing cultures, who fell in love at the beginning of one of the darkest periods in history...pre- war Germany. Ami has enormous talent and she delivers a love story that is not only profound, but engaging. I couldn’t put the book down and I am a very busy person with almost no time to read...I almost wished I had gotten the audio version. This is a must read for those that want to escape to another time...it will change something deep inside of you in a very positive way. Well done Ami!

Thank you, Jeff Andrews Executive Vice President IPC Technologies, Inc.

   

                                                        Why did I write this novel?

Many people ask me at book events how this book came to be...how did I know what to write about during a time period I never lived.

Simply, I had a dream. The love between the two characters in my dream was so intense nothing felt more real. So, I wrote about their story, the story I felt in my dream...one night in Thailand while working as a teacher.

Scouring the internet for history and youtube videos of that time period, I was easily saturated with images, sounds, and dialogue from that time period.

Old videos of the German President, and Hitler and even some musicians and swing performers helped to recreate pre war world II Germany.  I also found a lot of propaganda from the 30's.

I also heard stories from people who went through it, stories I read about and stories from other people.

What people don't realize is that the discrimination of not only the Jews, but a plethora of peoples, began much earlier that when hitler became chancellor in '34.

The Nazi party spread their ideology as early as the twenties, ripping apart German cities.

I hope everyone who reads this novel feels as much for these two lovers as I did in my dream and feel the wake of destruction the Nazi party thrust upon countless people. 

Thanks for stopping by!

You can buy Ami Blackwelders books at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The next stop on the tour: June 24 – Ami Blackwelder’s Website http://amiblackwelder.blogspot.com/

Review: Replay by Keira Lea

*I received this book (digital copy) at no charge in exchange for an honest review and participation in the blog tour.  The blog tour is being hosted by The Bookish Snob Tours.  The tour dates for this book are June 15, 2011 - July 2, 2011.  

Amazon Product Description:

Kelsee Lewis has a new school, a prima donna best friend, and one week to write a hit play. Throw in a self-obsessed mom and an absent executive dad, and it’s no wonder she has panic attacks—complete with time-warp special effects. When Kelsee meets comic book maven Quinn, she realizes the attacks give her the ability to rewind time.

Replaying life seems like the best way to erase mistakes. But will second chances leave Kelsee flailing in the orchestra pit alone?

My thoughts:

I was hooked at the prologue (Welcome to the Show is the header for it).  I was completely intrigued from the go.  Delay of show due to an entire audience vanishing - I had to turn the page and find out what in the world was going on!

This is the first time I have read a fiction story in play format.  I am sure there are more out there, but it is totally new for me.  I liked it.  I like how you are set up at the start of each chapter (scene) with the characters and the setting for that piece.  

The characters are fantastic.  The high school cliques and angst are so realistic.  I work in a 6-12 school and I see this every day.  Each of the characters has a highly developed  personality and the setting is right out of real life.   The drama that we see between the kids and between the kids and the adults is realistic as well.  We are run through the gambit of emotions and problems in the story: divorce, money, boys/girls, jealousy, friendship, ethics, morals, future plans, success, failure, and on top of all that - - - time manipulation!

This is a great YA read, and it's fast.  At 129 pages, it's a one sitting read.  The storyline kept me eagerly turning the pages.  The end is wonderful.  You get all the answers (and most of them were the ones I was hoping for!) I love when a great story finishes with a satisfying ending.  I would definitely suggest grabbing this one up!  

Blog Tour: Save My Soul by Zoe Winters (Giveaway too!)

Welcome to The Wormhole and my stop on the

 Save My Soul blog tour hosted by The Bookish Snob Tours!

You can check out my review HERE!

Please welcome author Zoe Winters!!!

Zoe Winters writes quirky and sometimes dark paranormal romance. She lives with her husband and two cats, and her favorite colors are rainbow and clear. For more information visit 

http://www.zoewinters.org or her blog at: http://zoewinters.wordpress.com

? When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I’m not sure, but I know I was writing novels in junior high school. So, it’s been awhile. I’ve got a crappy goldfish memory anyway, but I feel like I was always a storyteller. Being a writer is just a mechanical thing. It’s a mode of delivering a story. I think of myself more as a storyteller than a writer.

 ? How many jobs did you have before you became a writer?

33. I don’t do well working for other people.

? How long does it take you to write a book?

It depends on how much I’m working on it. If I was working consistently every single day on a book and had no other writing or editing projects going on (and often I do because the Zoe name isn’t my only writing), I could turn a book around from rough draft to publication in as little as 3-4 months. Some people think that means a “rushed book”, but what they don’t understand when they make that assumption is that the calendar time that passes is no real indication of how much time the author actually spent writing the book. Many books that take a year or longer to write, the work output by the author is rather hit or miss. (And it always makes someone angry when I say that, but it’s true. If you’re applying butt to seat and fingers to keyboard consistently, you’d be amazed by how fast you can write a book.) Slaving over it or suffering for it doesn’t necessarily make it better. I’ve written books fast and I’ve written them slow. Often the faster-produced work is my better work according to reader reaction to it. Most likely this is because I don’t constantly second-guess myself, I just let the creation happen.

 ? What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

I try not to have writing quirks. Sometimes quirks are just cute ways of saying “neurosis”. If I allow myself to develop quirks then I become superstitious about how I can write and how I can’t write. I don’t feel that attitude serves me. Different books require different things. Like the book I’m working on now, I’ve written a lot of it out of order (it won’t be out of order in the end, but my writing process has been very different for this book). I try to work from a very minimalist philosophy where all methods are on the table as options to get a book written.

? Do you have a routine that you use to get into the right frame of mind to write?

I open the document, reread the previous day’s work, turn on Focus Booster (a timer app that can be used for anything, but I use it for timed writing), and I start typing. Not sexy or romantic, but the quicker I can get from “I need to write” to actually typing words, the better. As for being in the right frame of mind to write, that’s usually more about what I “don’t” do as opposed to what I do. Like... avoiding as much conflict as possible. The biggest way to kill my writing mental zone is to argue with people on the Internet over stupid crap. I’ve really tried to give that up. The better I am at avoiding the Internet, the more I write.

 It seems that once you have grammar and spelling and basic narrative structure down, learning to write and to become a good writer is all about getting out of your own way. I basically take dictation from whatever out there supplies me with stories and try not to overthink it.

 ? Where do you get your ideas or inspiration for your characters?

Which Character? I can give you a couple of examples, but I’m afraid a direct answer to that question would be “everywhere”. Tam in Save My Soul is a weird blend of me and one of my best friends and the friendship between them is similar to my own dynamic with said friend, but that’s just one specific example. When you’re a writer, every interaction you ever have with anyone is grist for the mill. Henrietta Baker (the rude old lady at the church), was based on an experience I had with a similarly dour old woman when I went to a latin Catholic Mass for book research.

 ? How do you decide what you want to write about?

 The thing about creative work is that it’s largely intuitive. Most people don’t create in a regimented way. The structure and rigidity we sometimes supply to our writing practice is part superstition and part routine intended to train our muse to come out and play with us. I’m not trying to be vague or esoteric on purpose. (Or snotty or a special snowflake either.) It’s just that there is no way to describe a process that is largely created by the unconscious mind. I can’t even tell you with any real accuracy how I decide what I want to write about. Most of the time when writers are asked these questions we just make things up that we feel will entertain the readers and the interviewer because we really don’t know. And the more we analyze it, the more uncertain we get about the whole thing. So I’m learning to embrace my writing process agnosticism.

 Fun random questions: 

·        dogs or cats? Cats

·        Coffee or tea? Neither

·        Dark or milk chocolate? Dark

·        Rocks or flowers? Flowers

·        Night or day? Both

·        Favorite color? Clear. But I like rainbow a lot also. ;)

·        Crayons or markers? Crayons

·        Pens or pencils? Pens

Thanks for stopping by!

The author has offered an ecopy of  Faustine as a giveaway for this post!

To enter - you must be a follower - age 18 or older and fill out the form below.

You can buy Zoe Winters books at Smashwords, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

The next stop on the tour is: June 22 – Black Lagoon Reviews http://www.blacklagoonreviews.blogspot.com/
At the end of the tour there is a special giveaway - check it out !!!