• About
  • Review Ratings
  • Author’s Information
  • Recommended Authors

Whiskey With My Book

~ And a cozy spot to enjoy them both.

Whiskey With My Book

Monthly Archives: July 2017

What Are You Reading This Weekend?

28 Friday Jul 2017

Posted by WWMB in Art

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

historical mystery, Natalia Maroz, romance, Sabine Priestley, scifi, Sherry Thomas, urban fantasy

Illustration of cute houses and pretty girl in night sky by Natalia.maroz

I just like this one. 🙂

Art available at Society6.

I am just about to start Vega Falling by Sabine Priestley.  It’s book 2 in her exiting new urban fantasy series Tethered Wings.

After months on the wait list, I am finally able to check out and listen to A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas.  If you wonder what Sherlock Holmes would be like if she was a woman, you might enjoy this historical mystery.

What are you reading this weekend?

The Shimmering by Susan Kearney – Review

26 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by WWMB in Book Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

5 stars, paranormal, scifi romance, Susan Kearney

Review by Riley

About The Shimmering

When skeptic journalist Sandra Lowell interviews a doctor who claims to have mastered astral projection, she volunteers to prove the doctor wrong. Mysteriously, the doctor’s new-fangled machine works, and Sandra’s mind is transported into the body of an about-to-be married, and hysterical, woman in another land.

Daveck, head warrior of West Farii, needs to recover the Zorash—an ancient totem that protects his planet. Stolen by his fiancée’s father, Maglek, the totem’s loss has meant twenty years of dangerous climatic upheaval, which threatens to destroy his world. Daveck will stop at nothing to find the totem, including marrying and forcing Maglek’s daughter to reveal the totem’s location. Little does Daveck know that the woman is no longer Maglek’s panicky daughter, but the strong and intelligent Sandra.

In order to save his planet, Sandra and Daveck must team up, all while fighting their combustible chemistry. Can Daveck learn to trust the daughter of his enemy? To accept that she’s not the woman he sees? Can Sandra find a way to keep the love she’s found? Or will their world and love be lost to Maglek’s evil plan?

Review of The Shimmering

The Shimmering is an entertaining short read that starts on Earth with an experiment in astral projection and ends up on a planet far far away. During her out-of-body experience, Sandra is pulled through the stars to the world of Farii, giving the term ‘astral projection’ a double meaning.

Travelling directly into a politically charged socially awkward situation, Sandra lands in a body that belonged to a woman who purposefully left her body to avoid said awkward situation. That was the first sign that Sandra was in a predicament. It doesn’t take long for Sandra to get into this situation so you know that story is going to move right along.

The action does proceed quickly and Sandra comes face-to-face with her true predicament – a man. Daveck is his name and he and the body formerly known as Lira are to be married. A lot of trouble (action) ensues, intermingled with an equal amount of flirting. Both Sandra and Daveck challenged/frustrated the other sexually at every step of the way – a little equal opportunity flirting on a world where women taking charge is not the norm. Sandra and Daveck quickly formed an alliance, so-to-speak, in order to face the bad guy head on. If this had been a longer novel, the bad guy would have been a great character to expand on. He was definitely insane.

If you are a Stargate fan, you might think fondly back on a particular episode – Touchstone – where the team had to hunt down a climate control device.  Similar circumstances apply in The Shimmering with the addition of a heated romance.

The Shimmering is my first Susan Kearney book since I enjoyed the Pendragon Legacy series several years ago. Both series are a fun combination of genres that will appeal to scifi romance readers who enjoy a little paranormal mixed in.  At a mere 98 pages, don’t expect a deep, complex story.  Do expect what is advertised – a couple of hours of pure escapist fun, no strings attached!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

**************

Links

Add The Shimmering to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase The Shimmering:

 

 

Alien Resistance (Zyrgin Warriors, #4) by Marie Dry – Review

25 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by WWMB in Book Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

4 stars, alien invasion, aliens, aliens on earth, humor, Marie Dry, scifi romance, series

Reviewed by Riley

About Alien Resistance

In a bleak future where government systems are breaking down and poverty and violence reign, Madison Johnson is about to qualify as a doctor, after years of study and backbreaking work, in order to keep the promise she made to her dying sister, only to have an arrogant alien take over the hospital and decree that she would no longer be allowed to practice medicine. Hassled by the resistance group that’s trying to recruit her and exhausted from working impossible hours, Madison struggles to convince the disturbingly sexy alien, who always watches her, to let her be a doctor. As she and Viglar grows closer, Madison worries that she’s falling in love with one of the aliens who caused her brother’s disappearance—an alien who does not know how to love…

***************

Review of Alien Resistance

Alien Resistance takes place on an earth conquered by green-skinned alien invaders. Let’s stop there and get the serious part of my review out of the way. The blurb says “In a bleak future where government systems are breaking down and poverty and violence reign”. Why are government systems breaking down? Because this seems to have left earth ripe for the picking. One of the things that comes up is that in the future earth of Alien Resistance, doctors are spending fewer years studying to be a doctor than they had in the past. Along with the poverty and violence, I thought this was one of the most disturbing suppositions in the book, as I would assume it is part of an overall trend, fictionally speaking. But the reason it is disturbing is because I see similar things happening in our world now. That is really not a subject for a book review blog, but it is one of the things that made me connect with this book.

But let’s switch to the lighter side of the book. Alien Resistance is a romance, full of humor and quite a few heartwarmers. One of the conquerors, Viglar, faces off against one of the conquered, Madison. Much to Viglar’s frustration and the reader’s enjoyment, Madison refused to acknowledge being conquered. In the meantime, the conquerors, while quick to enforce their absolute dominion, are also not immune to harsher side of life on earth and are working to improve it. Aliens on earth is a scifi trope that always intrigues me and this green, hard-bodied alien domination is a fun interpretation of it.

The Zyrgin are supposed to be intelligent and have invested effort into studying humans. But no matter how much he may have studied humans, Viglar often does not understand what Madison says, often leading to humor. As Madison said, “It’s a saying, and how come an intelligent guy like you thought a human could have kittens?”

This alien ignorance of humanity carries over into perceiving human emotions and customs. Which was just a frustrating for me as a reader as it was for Madison as a character. Then again, maybe those aliens are not that ignorant after all, just extremely stubborn and see no reason to get along with the puny humans – they are the conquerors. They do not have to be nice at all.

Then, all of a sudden, Viglar throws in something that belies this stubbornness by throwing in a Star Wars reference at a completely appropriate time.

Madison hid a smile against his chest. His earnestness was rather endearing. “I will seduce you to the dark side.”

“The force is strong in this one. You will not seduce him to the dark side.”

Madison nearly fell off the couch. She stared at him with her mouth inelegantly open. “How on earth do you know Star Wars?”

Madison is often stunned by Viglar’s intelligence, and in this case, wit. I love these little bits of interactions between Madison and Viglar.

The fact is, the Viglar and his kind are intractable, dominating aliens who do not hesitate to use violence to bring humanity in line. This attitude appears to conflict with their apparent altruistic efforts to help the under-privileged humans by building hospitals and orphanages and who know what else? What is their end-game?  I found my lack of understanding of Zyrgin motives a bit distracting from time to time.  But I did not need that understanding to appreciate the story of Madison and Viglar.

Alien Resistance is the first book in the Zyrgin Warrior series that I have read, so I can assure you it stands on its own. While reading books 1-3 might give a little additional insight into some of the less important characters, it is not necessary to enjoy book 4. If you like a hardheaded alien hero, a headstrong human heroine combined with heart and humor, I recommend Alien Resistance.

The author provided a copy of her book so that I could bring you this honest review.

***************

Links

Add Alien Resistance to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase Alien Resistance or other books from the Zyrgin Warriors series:

← Older posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 444 other subscribers

Tags

4 stars 5 stars Adventure aliens Art book feature Book Review cats excerpt fantasy giveaway guest post historical humor magic mystery paranormal Pauline Baird Jones reading romance scifi scifi romance series space opera Steampunk

Recent Posts

  • The Unlucky Charms series by T.M. Cromer – Review
  • Catagenesis (Cat Ship, #3) by Jody Wallace – Review
  • Another Year!
  • Fury of Frustration (Dragonfury Scotland, #6) by Coreene Callahan – Review
  • A Love by Design (The Secret Scientists of London, #3) by Elizabeth Everett – Review

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016

Currently Reading

NetGalley Challenge 2016

2016 NetGalley Challenge

Copyright Notice

© This site's content is protected by copyright.

FTC Disclaimer

Some of the books reviewed on Whiskey With My Book are provided by authors, publishers, or other third party promoters. Other than review copies, no compensation is accepted for reviews.

Affiliates

This blog uses affiliate links to direct you to sites where you can make purchases. Use of these links supports this blog and is much appreciated!

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Whiskey With My Book
    • Join 331 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Whiskey With My Book
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...