A Rip Through Time (A Rip Through Time, #1) by Kelley Armstrong – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, historical mystery, Kelley Armstrong, series, time travel

Review of A Rip Through Time

After an attack, a time travelling 21^st century woman wakes up in the body of a Victorian era maid with a less than stellar reputation.  Mallory is challenged with finding out how to get home while also solving the mystery of who attacked her and coping with 19^th century attitudes.  Throw in two additional murders and overcoming the maid’s untrustworthy name and you will find a tense, action-packed story sure to keep you turning pages.

Just to make the setting a bit more complex, ethnic and racial discrimination vie with sexual inequities, to make the 19^th century even more distressing to a 21^st century police detective.  Who is, by the way, without her cell phone that she would normally use to research every other thing that comes up in the unfamiliar place that is 1869 Edinburgh.

A little humor – as one would expect from a character out of her own time – lightens the mood occasionally.  Appealing secondary characters Dr. Duncan Gray and Isla Wallace help to carry the story.  The plot is taut and the writing is absorbing.  Readers of Julie McElwain’s Kendra Donovan series will enjoy A Rip Through Time, as will historical fiction and mystery readers.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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

About A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

In this series debut from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, a modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland—in an unfamiliar body—with a killer on the loose.

May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.

May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same spot.

When Mallory wakes up in Catriona’s body in 1869, she must put aside her shock and adjust quickly to the reality: life as a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man, similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the murderer can lead her back to her modern life . . . before it’s too late.

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

Links

Add A Rip Through Time to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase A Rip Through Time (Release May 31):

Razor Strike by Lee Sarpel – Feature with Excerpt

Tags

excerpt, feature, Lee Sarpel, romance, scifi

Debut author Lee Sarpel’s Razor Strike released on May 15. SciFi Romance readers might want to check this out. I’m looking forward to reading this one soon!

About Razor Strike by Lee Sarpel

Eight years ago, Harbor Corporation hired Trez as one of its Strikers, cybernetically outfitted commandos who carry out high-risk missions to advance the company’s semi-public corporate wars. It should have been the perfect job for an adrenaline junkie: break into the opposition’s building, dispatch the guards, find the target, do whatever the higher-ups demand. But Trez can’t cope with the violence anymore.

She also can’t afford to retire any time soon. Her hapless father owes money to the Makos, the most powerful crime ring in the city-state of Portland. If Trez can’t pay off his debt, the Makos will expose Trez’s carefully hidden past misdeeds to her employer. Forget being out of a job: she’ll be jailed for life if Harbor doesn’t eliminate her first.

Luckily, her longtime friend, colleague, and onetime fling Eric is determined to help her fix her problems. Can Trez swallow her pride, navigate mob politics, evade a colony of robot iguanas, and face down an anarchist cell before the life she’s built for herself crumbles?

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

Razor Strike – Excerpt

A sudden screeching noise made Eric’s danger sense flare. What could be …his eyes widened. That was one pimped out dirtcycle headed his way. It careened hard into a nearby storefront with a loud crunch, throwing the rider a few meters down the road. Eric ran toward the cyclist even as the other pedestrians gave the bike some distance. Dirtcycles spruced up like that often had some crazy volatiles in their tanks. You never knew what could explode when.

“You all right?” He checked the crumpled figure for obvious injury. The rider was breathing and conscious. The half helmet, now dented in near the right ear, had taken some of the impact. He wore a suit with a sharktooth motif. Mako member then. Probably suffering massive road burn under there. Maybe even broken bones.

“Ugh,” said the cyclist. He shook his head as if there were an object in there he needed to jar loose. “What the … Shit …” His face turned toward his bike, now embedded in the cement next to the front door of a building signed ANUPAM’S SYNTH SWEETS. “Well, fuck me.” He grimaced, and braced his hands on the road to get back on his feet. He failed to push himself up then he collapsed.

A beat-up truck swerved onto their street, and two goons wearing flannel bandannas to cover the lower half of their faces came out. They didn’t sport any Mako symbols, and red-and-green plaid was definitely not a Mako color combo. One of them had a baton attached to their belt. Eric’s metal detector didn’t pick up any other weapons.

He hadn’t acquitted himself well in the earlier fight today. Here was a chance to impress the Makos. Never hurt to be in good graces with the mob.

Eric’s heartbeat sped up. He had been tired, but he could feel a second wind coming on. This could be more fun than he’d expected. He turned to face the thugs, angling his body and putting one foot forward. His farther hand made a fist. “Looking for something?”

The two figures stopped short. One tilted their head at the other’s. “This isn’t your business.”

The words came easy. “Sure it is.” Come and get it. He smiled, not kindly.

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

Purchase Razor Strike:

Amazon Kobo

The Ice Ghost (Rewilding Reports, #2) by Kathleen O’Neal Gear – Review

Tags

5 stars, Adventure, Book Review, Cli-fi, Ice Age, Kathleen O'Neal Gear, Post Apocalyptic, sci fi, series

Review of The Ice Lion

Quiller is the victim of Trogan’s prophetic visions.  While he forces her to find the Old Woman of the Mountain, Quiller’s husband RabbitEar and her friend Lynx try to rescue her.  The adventure through the underworld will test everyone involved, reveal some of the Jemen’s secrets and raise more questions about how the people living in the current Ice Age came to be and what their purpose is. 

God save me from religious leaders. Especially if the flock is kept ignorant.  The mysterious leaders can make anything up!  I’m talking about Trogan, who Quiller’s people believe is an evil witch.  Evil is a pretty good description for him.  High-handedness, threats and violence are not justified because Trogan, is being led by a ‘god’. 

While Quiller and company are trekking through the underworld, her tribe, the Sealion People are threatened by the Rust People (Trogan’s tribe). Among the tribe is Quiller’s adopted family, which includes enigmatic son Jawbone.

I have found this evolving story to be fascinating.  Between a post-apocalyptic ice age, human genetic manipulation, advanced human abilities, and the humanity of the Ice Age archaic peoples, I have embraced the story arc.  To get the most out of this book, read The Ice Lion first, then pick up The Ice Ghost.  The next installment will be highly anticipated by this reader.

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book so that I could bring you this review.

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

About The Ice Ghost by Kathleen O’Neal Gear

In the brutal Ice Age caused by the ancient Jemen war, many archaic human species, including Denisovans and Homo erectus, hover on the verge of extinction. There seems no way out, until the greatest Neandertal holy man, Trogon, has a vision. Legends say the truce that ended the old war left one hostage in the hands of the victorious rebels: the godlike Jemen leader known as the Old Woman of the Mountain. According to Trogon’s vision, only one person knows the location of that burial cave. Trogon must capture young Quiller and force her to lead him there…for the Old Woman may not be dead. She may only have been in stasis for a thousand summers, and when reawakened she will save them from oblivion.

But according to the Denisovans–Quiller’s people–Trogon is the most powerful witch alive. He’s up to something evil that will surely spell their destruction. He must be stopped before it’s too late.

Quiller’s best friend Lynx must brave towering glaciers, dire wolves, and prides of giant lions to save her and stop Trogon.

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

Links

Add The Ice Ghost to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase The Ice Ghost (releases May 17):

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