Author: catstark

From Protector of the Grey House:

His eyes wandered out the window, then back inside. He barely glanced at the other men until he reached Joseph, who held his gaze. Vincent scowled and fought the urge to check his cell again. He and his people had arrived two days ago. Rebecca called the first afternoon to inform him Natalia’s meetings went well. She called again yesterday afternoon to ensure him all was still well. He didn’t expect another call until this afternoon when Rebecca would report again. He was not in the habit of calling his home when he was away to check up: it showed distrust. Although at times he didn’t trust all the men he sheltered in his house, he did trust Mierka, Rebecca, Angie, and Natalia. He knew they would call if they needed help.

Nevertheless, the disquieting feeling was almost overpowering.

It subsided as the limo drew closer to the house and he let himself relax. Perhaps it was just anxiety. He pushed it to the side and allowed himself to rely on the women who ran his house. The car finally stopped, and the back door opened to reveal Lorraine in a black silk robe. Vincent was the closest to the door and went straight for Lorraine. He kissed her on the cheek, and stepped back to admire her in her rather inappropriate outfit.

“Sire. Your warriors have returned.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Vincent stared at Natalia as she and Anthony stared each other down. His emotions were under his control again, after some hunting in Reno, Nevada. He’d done things carefully, and had not drawn Slayers to the area. It helped calm his hunger better than Lorraine’s runner in the forest preserve. Now, he waited for the blood experiments to start. They were in Anthony’s living room. Four weeks had passed since Vincent found he could control Natalia with his blood. She wanted to test Joseph’s theory of whose blood could possess her and whose could not. They decided to start with the most unlikely candidate.

Natalia stood with arms crossed, her eyes narrowed. Anthony looked annoyed and bored. Julia stood behind him, a slight smirk hidden in her eyes. Vincent was beside them, and waited to see if the two would put aside their differences long enough to run the experiment. A smile came to Natalia’s face as she decided to goad Anthony.

“Do you fear me? Is that why you don’t want to do this?

He frowned and his arms were crossed. “This has to be done?”

“No real harm to you, vampire. I’m the only one at risk.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Edwin yelled the three short lines of Latin he knew and watched as two pillars of smoke formed into hideous beasts in front of him. Christopher taught him the lines when he had placed him in charge, and told the younger vampire never to utter the words unless absolutely necessary. The demons the words called forth were unpredictable at best and would only perform one task for their temporary master before running off.

Edwin stared at the horrors that stood before him, pointed to one then to Vincent. “Kill him.” He pointed at the second then at Natalia. “Kill her.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia’s hand went behind her back to caress the sword. Even sheathed she could feel its eagerness. She trembled to use it. The sword was her absolute authority; her absolute power. Every vampire it touched would die. She smiled a seductive smile over the crowd at her lover. The look he gave her back showed his trust, his pride, his respect and his love. She quivered at the look, and desired his touch. First, the battle. She grasped the buckle of the sheath, and released it as she gripped the hilt of her sword. The sheath fell from her body as she swung the sword over her shoulder. Natalia brought the sword in front of her, the hilt now in both hands. She allowed the blade to half hide her face then swiveled it slightly, making the edge run down the center of her face. She took a deep breath and bellowed for the Captain.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“Vincent?” Lorraine didn’t sound happy.

Vincent waved her voice away while he found his pants. His cell phone was in the front pocket. He took it out and there were no messages. It was past sunset. At the very least, Rebecca should have given him the ‘all clear’ call. There was nothing. He didn’t even have service. With a slight frown, Vincent dialed Rebecca’s number and hit the send button. He grew alarmed when his ear encountered dead air. He waited as Lorraine sat up and gave him an annoyed look.

“Vincent.” It was almost an order.

He slipped on his pants and hung up his phone. “Give me your phone.”

 “I don’t carry my phone into my bedroom.” She gave him an annoyed look and sounded as if she thought he shouldn’t either.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia walked the mile to her old house, and wished she knew how to drive. The walk was not pleasant. She was too worried about being caught unawares, but it still did not take her long to reach the house. The sun had not yet set behind the mountains, and she still had two hours before it did.

The place was a mess. Donald’s rig was parked in the driveway. The weeds around it were high, which proved it had been parked for a while. There was garbage strewn everywhere and the house needed to be painted. Natalia wondered if it had been this bad the last time she was here, but couldn’t clearly recall.

Natalia walked up the sagging steps with the cross held out in front of her and tried the door. It was unlocked. She opened it slowly and looked around. There were dishes and dirt and dust everywhere. A kitchen chair was overturned. Natalia walked to the living room. She stepped in carefully then dropped the cross. Her mother sat in the recliner and stared at a blank TV screen.

From Protector of the Grey House:

“No. But I suspected.” He went to Natalia, picked her up and carried her to his throne. He sat and cradled her to him, to comfort her. All he could do was caress her and kiss her neck and jawline. He would be without her for four days. Even with Lorraine at his beck and call, he would desire Natalia’s warm touch.

“You didn’t share your thoughts?”

“Didn’t feel the need – I need you. Come with me.”

He kissed her hard and made her straddle him; her legs hung over the dragon head armrests. Her breath was taken by his kiss.

“Come with me.” He repeated, his voice thick with emotion.

She answered breathlessly. “Why?”

“I need you.” He held her in place as his arms tightened around her.

In the past couple weeks or less I’ve read three books. I reviewed two with titles and authors, posted those to all my social media and tagged the authors to let them know I loved their books. The third one…. Yeah, no.

The third one was a great book. It was a good story, cool characters with cool powers, and a dude that could turn into A FUCKING DRAGON. I wanted to love this book; I really, really did. I couldn’t.

The writing was subpar. There were quite a few sentences that seemed jumbled. There were run on sentences that I had to skip over as I couldn’t decipher them. There were also a few ‘ifs’ and ‘ors’ used for ‘ofs’ and ‘its’. The writer also used the phrase “nose bridge’ instead of ‘bridge of my nose’. Some of this I can forgive. We all make mistakes, right? But those weren’t the worst.

The worst? The writer decided to use the word ‘humid’ instead of damp. Now, a lot of times, that’s an acceptable substitute. ‘The air felt damp,’ is a perfectly acceptable sentence. Well, try this one for size, ‘He brushed my humid hair out of my eyes.’

No, you didn’t read that wrong. That exact sentence, by the way, is not in the book, but that’s what the writer was using humid for: to describe wet hair (in a few places) and wet lawn (in a couple places).

I’ve made odd word choices before, I’m sure we all have. My most hated mistake, which I have thankfully not published, is deciding to use ‘head bow’ for a nod. Yeah, that’s terrible. I used that phrase a lot when I first started writing, and have since corrected that bad idea when I see the phrase as I’m editing. I don’t know what I was thinking. I really don’t, but I wanted to illustrate that we all, as I said, make mistakes.

But then we get editors, and they tell us what’s what. Yes, writers can override editor suggestions, but come on. It sounds like the writer may have used a thesaurus to find better/different words and then didn’t look up the meaning of the word.

To give the writer the benefit of the doubt, I tried to find out if English wasn’t their primary language. My mom is an immigrant. Though she has lived in the States for 50+ years, she still messes up words. That happens. That’s forgivable. I have found nothing on the writer that suggests English is their secondary language.

In short, it was enough of a poor word choice to stop me from buying any more of their books. Which is sad. It was a good story.

HE TURNED INTO A DRAGON. (Insert forlorn sigh.)

Genie on Fire is the third book in the Smoke and Mirrors series. It stars Lucy and Mal, two genies who have to hide who they are to the outside world for various reasons.

I find it interesting that the word ‘genie’ in the series is considered a slur, but the writer uses that word as part of the title for the books. I would have to assume it’s due to that fact that most readers are aware of what a ‘genie’ is and don’t always know the more esoteric forms of the word. But I digress.

In Genie on Fire, Lucy finds herself transforming into something completely different (trying not to have spoilers here). It’s a race against time to find the ‘cure’. Mal and Lucy end up in a lot of capers to help her out.

The book is well written, I like the characters and I want to know what happens next. I hope you take the time to read this series. It’s fun! You can find it here.

First off this is not a book written for someone my age. I’m 46 and do not have children (of any age). Its target audience is 9–12-year-olds. The book was largely predictable but that might be due to my age/experience. I saw the ending coming a mile away and the journey there was almost as predictable.

That shouldn’t stop anyone from reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It’s well written and fun to read. There is good character development and the interactions between the kids and the kids and grownups feel real.

The book takes place in Australia, therefore there are some expressions I didn’t understand, as I live in the United States. I visited Australia when I was 12, and some things, like the mention of a Vegemite sandwich, brought a smile to my lips. Also, I have to wonder if the phrase, “The yowie ate my baby” may have been a throwback to a real-life story I heard about when I was young. If you don’t know the reference, I’m not telling you. The possible reference made me laugh, but then, I have a dark sense of humor.

The book, as stated, takes place in Australia. It’s about Jacinta and her hunt for a yowie, a creature that is reminiscent of Big Foot. She is searching for it in the hopes of helping her detective mom so that they can move back home to Sydney. Along the way, she makes friends with kids her age. There is betrayal, a ‘mad scientist’, accidentally evil parents, and good parents as well.

Give it a read. I highly recommend this fun book. You can find it here.