The Queen’s Advantage (Rogue Queen, #2) by Jessie Mihalik – Review

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5 stars, Book Review, Jessie Mihalik, mystery, scifi, scifi romance

About The Queen’s Advantage by Jessie Mihalik

When Queen Samara Rani fulfills the promise she made to Emperor Valentin Kos to visit his court and meet with his advisors, she knows they won’t welcome her with open arms, especially when she’s been tasked with discovering the traitors within their ranks—traitors she tricked out of five million credits.

As soon as Samara begins her investigation it becomes clear that Valentin’s advisors want her gone and they aren’t picky about how. After their tactics turn violent, Samara and Valentin race to unravel the web of treachery and lies before the next attack ends in tragedy.

When the conflict escalates in ferocity and rumors start blaming Samara, she is forced to continue her hunt alone. Uncovering traitors is difficult when courtiers learn to lie before they learn to walk, and one misstep could cost her life. However, Rogue Queens aren’t easy to kill and Samara has more than a few tricks of her own.

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Review of The Queen’s Advantage

The Queen’s Advantage is as much mystery as it is SciFi. There is espionage and betrayal afoot and it is Samara’s job to figure out the culprit(s). There are so many suspects. And solving the mystery is critical. You see, whoever is at the bottom of the mystery is trying to get rid of Emperor Valentin, who also happens to be Samara’s romantic interest. I loved the action, the constant threats to both Samara and Valentin and the plot twists as the guilty party is slowly unveiled. I also liked how the romance is secondary to the plot of uncovering the traitor.

Samara and Valentin met in book 1, The Queen’s Gambit (my review here). While that story set up the circumstances for The Queen’s Advantage, you can read both as standalones. I like this series better than the author’s popular Polaris Rising. Readers of SciFi Romance will enjoy Jessie Mihalik’s Rogue Queen series. Shorter novels, they contain a perfect blend of romance and intra-galaxy action.

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The Dark Above (William Chance & Lynn Roseworth, #2) by Jeremy Finley – Review

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5 stars, abduction, aliens among us, Book Review, Jeremy Finley, scifi

About The Dark Above by Jeremy Finley

For most of his life, William Chance has been the living proof that his grandmother and her fellow researchers into missing people were right all along about the terror from the stars. Now, he’s avoiding the limelight and hiding out from everyone, including his family. He knows he can avoid everything, except for the nightmares: fires, storms, disease and violence – he dreams of it all.

When he’s suddenly exposed, he finds that the media, government operatives and renegade true believers are desperate to find him, but he has another mission. Joined by a girl with terrifying abilities, he begins a desperate journey across the United States to find the others who share his dreams to stop what could be the final days of the world.

Jeremy Finley continues the story of Lynn and William, begun in The Darkest Time of Night (my review here), fifteen years later in a new fast-paced novel full of suspense and government cover-ups, perfect for thriller and supernatural fans alike.

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Review of The Dark Above

Chapter One introduces (or re-introduces if you read book 1) Lynn and Roxy.  The 79-year-olds partnered to track down Lynn’s missing grandchild 15 years ago and have remained best friends, sharing secrets nobody wants to acknowledge.

In Chapter Two, we meet William.  At 22, William, the aforementioned grandchild, has tried to move on in his life.  Having good reason to believe he is a danger to his family, William is in hiding.  His part of the story starts when he is discovered.  The press, the government, conspiracy theorists, supporters of his Grandmother and other abductees are all zeroing in on William now.

What follows is a non-stop, no-time-to-sleep adventure/ordeal that involves traveling across country, east, south, west and north while tracking down the centers of massive tragic events including storm, disease and fire.  William seems to be object of everyone’s hunt while he hunts for the answers to prevent global catastrophe.

There is a fair amount of violence, both human-generated and super-human-generated.  Which I wasn’t crazy about, but it was part of the story.  I did appreciate the continual action, ever-present tension and the family tragedy that unfolded throughout the story.  I also admired the extraordinary actions that hero William took try to thwart the aliens, which, by the way, have been here for a while.

And the ending.  I really liked the ending.  Uh, uh.  Read it yourself.  Will there be another in the William Chance and Lynn Roseworth series?  Maybe…..

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

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Well, Not Steal Exactly… by Vivien Jackson – Guest Post

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artificial intelligence, guest post, romance, scifi, scifi romance, series, Vivien Jackson

Today is release day for More Than Stardust.  Congratuations to Vivien Jackson on her new book!  If you missed my review of this great new book, you can find it here.

Today I am please to welcome Ms. Jackson to Whiskey With My Book.  She has decided to confess…

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Guest Post
by Vivien Jackson

Writers don’t just make up stories out of a vacuum. We steal tons of stuff… well, not steal exactly, not like plagiarism because that is BAD AND DON’T DO IT, but more in the way of references to previous work we have found meaningful and influential. For instance, I’m not sure if you it’s possible to write a book about a manufactured post-human – be it cyborg or android or techno-zombie – without having bits of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein pinging around in your brain. That book certainly took up residence in my mind when I was writing More Than Stardust, a science fiction romance about a self-aware nanorobotic artificial intelligence who dreams of having a body and being a real girl. At one point my characters even reference Frankenstein because that book is so deeply hooked into concepts of manufactured persons. I mean, of course characters in such a situation would think about it.

They don’t overtly reference Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, but I echoed a line of hers in a scene where characters are hiking over a glacier. Points to anybody who finds that line.

I also reference, more obliquely, Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human. Like that classic science fiction novel, my book is about post-humans, the “what comes after us” what-of of personhood. Which is where I got the title More Than Stardust from.

There are also homage-type references to all my fandoms, too: Doctor Who and The X-Files and J. R. R. Tolkien and 1980s hair band metal… stuff like that. I wouldn’t be a deep-rooted fangirl if I didn’t throw in those things. When I’m reading a book, I look for the connections between the author and me, things that we might have in common, as evidenced in what the characters say and do. Those things make a character relatable. If the character is only interested in things that I don’t know very well or don’t care to know particularly, I might skip pages. That’s not to say I haven’t read books where I learned something new – those are super fun! – but it’s comfy, to me, to find bits of things I love inside the books I read.

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About More Than Stardust

She never wanted to be a god. She only wanted to be a girl.

Chloe, a self-aware, highly illegal nanorobotic artificial intelligence knows a thing or two about wanting. The growing Machine Rebellion wants her to become its god. The technocratic global Consortium wants to cage her, take her apart, and reverse-engineer her. Her family wants to keep her a secret. Her best friend Garrett wants her safe. Chloe is a thing made of wants.

And it’s time the world knew hers.

Available now at
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SY9KR5N
And everywhere else: https://books2read.com/u/mg0qGv

About the Author

Vivien Jackson writes fantastical, futuristic, kissing books. Her debut science fiction romance, Wanted and Wired, was selected as an Amazon Best Book of 2017 and a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist. A devoted fangirl and inveterate gamer, Viv lives in Austin, Texas, with a herd of small, hairy pets. Also a husband. Hang out with her on Twitter @Vivien_Jackson or on the web at VivienJackson.com.

Connect with Vivian at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vivien_Jackson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VivienJacksonWriter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vivien.jackson/
Web: https://www.vivienjackson.com