Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publication Date: October 24, 2018
Pages: 302
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A TRUE WOLF IS BORN, NOT MADE…
Raven Cade is new to the sleepy little town of Wolcott and desperately in need of a job. So it seems like a good idea when she hastily accepts one at a seedy dive bar she finds along the side of the road. Especially when she ends up meeting an unbelievably gorgeous man who arrests her attention and inflames her desire like never before. But when two terrifying men start an equally terrifying bar brawl in an attempt to kidnap her, she realizes she made a horrible mistake. Her first night on the job becomes an incomprehensible nightmare that threatens her life and her sanity, and has her questioning everything she knows.

Emmett Weylin isn’t human. He and his family are part of a pack of werewolves living in secret in the tiny town of Wolcott. Drawing undue attention to himself is the last thing he can afford, so hitting a shady bar outside of town with a questionable reputation is a necessary evil when he needs to scratch an occasional itch. He never expected to find his mate and the love if his life there. And when he sees her, both the wolf and the man inside him instantly take notice. Wanting. Needing. Coveting.

But when two evil and inhuman abominations show up to take her away from him, can he keep her safe long enough to do something about it? Or will the shocking truth about what he really is, and what they are to each other, scare her off before he even has a chance?

Samantha is a self-professed nerd from the Midwest, who loves anything with a good plot. She'll watch anything with werewolves, vampires, or zombies in it. She is a voracious reader and loves smutty romance novels and contemporary fantasy. Samantha started writing her first erotic romance in February of 2015, and now she can't stop. It's a passion that she can't shut off, nor would she want to. She loves animals, especially dogs, and if her husband let her, she'd have a dozen, but 2 are his limit. She's looking forward to sharing more of her books with the world.

Genre: Novella, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publication Date: October 25, 2016
Pages: 136
Format: ePub
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This was a decent retelling of the Little Mermaid (Disney, not the Brother's Grimm). Skye, too, couldn't let Vince drown. Rescuing him thrust her into his world and him into her world. Sometimes it takes living in one another's "shoes" to really understand what each other's life is about.

Skye is bright, intelligent and compassionate. When she should have done as she had been taught, she found her humanity and saved the boy. Trading places taught Skye the lessons she needed to go on in life.

Vince is a rich, spoiled party boy slowly dying. Although he clearly had friends, he was very lonely and I feel like Skye was one of his first true friends.

However the romantic interest between Skye and Vince was really quite bland. I know this was a clean romance, but there was no spark there. It was a little too innocent for my liking, I feel.

But for those who enjoy a clean romantic fantasy read, this is a decent enough one.

Angel Leya focuses on creating clean young adult fiction with a touch of magic and romance. It also happens to be what she enjoys reading, and she blogs regularly about her latest reads. With a tendency towards writing different shades of fantasy and light sci-fi, her stories are intended to transport readers into worlds of possibility and wonder. When not writing, you can find her daydreaming about her stories and searching for her own adventures. Feel free to drop her a line any time. She hopes you enjoy her fiction as much as she enjoys writing it!

Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Anthology
Publisher: Troubador
Publication Date: February 19, 2016
Pages: 144
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Where do you get your ideas for your books? Who or what inspired your idea?
SPO: The inspiration for my stories comes from all sorts of places, often unexpected and sometimes unexplained. It can come from an overheard snippet of conversation, something I have seen in passing and so on. A good example is an especially vivid dream which became 'Sleep, Think, Die,' a story about the zombie apocalypse. This story ended up being a trilogy. Another example is when I overheard a young child mispronouncing 'Madagascar' as 'Mad Gasher.' He became a prominent character in the first book of the trilogy.

How did you develop the plot and your characters? Are your characters based on anyone?
SPO: I try not to base my characters on people, although I may borrow a trait or a characteristic. I often think that writers subconsciously create characters that my be based in part on 'real' people. Speaking for myself, I don't do this deliberately.

Do you write when you're inspired? Or do you have a schedule you keep to?
SPO: I write when I am inspired, in the main. This can often mean in the wee small hours, when everyone else is asleep. I know this is a cliche but in my case, for reasons I won't bore you with here, it is true! Usually with my little Cocker Spaniel for company. The only schedules I have to keep are self-imposed in the main. I try to be disciplined but it is not always easy!

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? Maybe a piece of advice that stuck with you from your adventure into the world of publishing?
SPO: Don't give up! Learn from your mistakes, take on board constructive criticism and professional advice whenever you are fortunate enough to receive it, and learn from it. Don't let the detractors and nay-sayers stop you. No matter the size of your audience, just keep writing. And keep reading too - it helps enormously and you learn so much without even realising it. Plus of course, it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Tell us a bit more about yourself. How did you know you wanted to be a writer? Who or what inspires you to write?
SPO: Another cliche coming up, but again, it is true. I have always had the desire to write. Ever since I was a very small child, I was writing little stories and poems, and I just kept on doing it. The older I got, the more I wrote (when other commitments allowed) and the more willing I became to share it with audiences other than my family. I have learned a tremendous amount in the process and I am still learning.

How much of yourself goes into your writing? Or do you keep yourself separate and base the character on someone else entirely?
SPO: In terms of passion, intention and a desire to tell the story, I put a lot of myself into my writing. However, I don't believe I have ever based any character upon myself. I prefer to keep them at arms length, so to speak, so that I can observe their actions and dialogue and 'keep it real' as far as is possible. I don't necessarily base my characters on anyone, at least not knowingly, though I borrow certain traits, I am sure.

What has helped shape and improve your writing?
SPO: Practice! Just keep writing, keep reading, be willing to accept that you are not perfect and that you make mistakes, some of them so glaringly obvious you feel like banging the keyboard off your head, others that only those in the know can spot and if you are lucky, they will point out to you. Be open to feedback, both good and bad, be prepared to learn from it but don't allow yourself to be so changed as a writer that you no longer recognise yourself or your story.

What are you reading right now? Do you recommend it or have any other recommendations?
SPO: I have just finished reading The Falcon of Sparta by Conn Iggulden. I would recommend any of his work to lovers of historical fiction, especially the Conqueror series depicting the life of Genghis Khan. Excellent writing and a thoroughly absorbing read.

Do your novels carry a message or do you feel it's subjective?
SPO: I never intentionally write a message into my work, so it always fascinates me when readers find one anyway. That is the beauty of creative writing, in particular poetry - it allows the reader to interpret it as they may. Wonderful!

What works best for you: Typewriters, fountain pen, dictate, computer or longhand?
SPO: All of the above, with the exception of dictation. I need to see the written words on the page as I go along. Dictation has its place, but it is not what I would naturally revert to. I do the bulk of my writing on the keyboard, but now and then I need to do things the old-fashioned way and put pen to paper. It is useful to keep a pen and pad close to hand, to jot down those unexpected ideas that just form in your head out of nowhere, too. For instance, at 2 am or when you are staring out of the bus window...

Thank you to S P Oldham for kindly providing us with this awesome interview!- Leticia

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance
Publisher: DysCovered Publishing
Publication Date: August 25, 2015
Pages: 192
Format: ePub
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9/11 was possibly one of the scariest times in the Western world. I don't think we ever would have thought things would end up the way it had. But could you imagine a world where the fear of terrorists completely changed how the United States of America functions, right down to continuously creating fear of terrorists? Oh, wait, parts of that is already happening. This is eerily familiar, almost creepy how familiar this is to what is currently happening all over the world.
The Office of Civilian Safety and Defense was created to keep civilians safe from the on-going threat of terrorism. But it functions in a way that what you eat, drink, listen to, watch and so on is determined by the OCSD. Keeping the people ignorant and the people's fear high.

Careen
As a lead character, she is admirable. Careen is smart, enough to know that the antidote wasn't really right as it makes her feel silly and loses hours. She's independent enough to try to fight it. Questioning the motives of the OCSD is brave, especially as people who speak out are often detained.

Tommy
He was tough to read about, having to grieve the loss of his family and be contained to his house with a broken leg. The antidote became more of an escape for him from his reality, even though Careen's presence makes him question what really happened to his parents, what the antidote does and what the OCSD is up to.

So with the chaos of the end of the book, it will be interesting to see if Careen and Tommy have what it takes to bring down the OCSD. If you enjoy dystopian, young adult, new adult genres, this might be a very good read for you.

Once upon a time, Tracy Lawson was a little girl with a big imagination who was obsessed with telling stories. Her interests in dance, theatre, and other forms of make-believe led to a twenty-year career in the performing arts, where “work” meant she got to do things like tap dance and choreograph musicals. A mid-life career change has yielded six books–a four-volume series of thrillers for young adults, and two nonfiction history books based on the lives of her pioneer ancestors.

Tracy, who is married with one grown daughter and two spoiled cats, splits her time between Dallas, Texas and Columbus, Ohio.

Whew, 2018 though, am I right?

New year, new goals.
2019 will be a year of continuing my personal journey of growth. Like learning time management AND to not be hard on myself if I fail that. The latter will be toughest, ironically.

So what is to come with 2019?
Well, I suck and fell super behind on my 2018 reviews. My goal is to try to pump those out as quickly as I can so that my current reviews don't fall super behind as well.

Second, I decided to change things up a little and challenge myself, knock some TBR off with my reviews and shelves, add some new recommended reads from people in my life. One of those being that I sat and read Bird Box by Josh Malerman in one evening because my friends would not stop teasing me with info about the movie! Haha.

The change is this: POPSugar  Reading Challenge
Essentially it's to encourage me to read a bit more and to branch out with different prompts to follow. I will make a page on here to show off which prompts I've followed through with. I think this will be awesome and it'll help me strike off some of my review books as well.
There are 50 prompts in total, however, to be fair to my review books I am only going to read the first 40. I might throw an advanced prompt in but I think 40 is fair, I can then focus the other 10 on more review books.

I've also changed my blog just slightly and I'm going to be more focused on posting in it, even if it's just posts like this or updating my side bar of my reads, featured books, etc.

Third, I have added a Guest Post feature. It's in the little drop down bar under Requests. I really hope to see some authors take me up on that. I've offered some prompts but you're welcome to write your own as well.

My other goal is to do much more self-care. Things that are important to me. Like sitting in the living room late at night, snuggled up in my nest, reading books and listening to music instead of gaming. To put makeup on just because (especially since I received some awesome lipsticks!). Drink tea. Challenge myself to take a walk. To not let myself get stuck in my head and go back down the dirt road to my abyss of darkness. To write more. To divinate, read my tarots, find peace in the moonlight.
Instead of a resolution, I am focused more on just improving what I already have with the things I need to do more of. I think it's a pretty important step to take.

I think this will be a much better year for me, and I do hope, dear Book Dragons, it is a good year for you as well! If you do the POPSugar Reading Challenge, be sure to let me know! I encouraged my bestie to try too, but I so hope that others do as well.

Be well, Book Dragons, be well!

Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery
Publisher: C.J. Standal Productions
Publication Date: June 28, 2017
Pages: 150
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The most recent issue (10): Amazon
Act 1 to 6: Amazon

Rebirth of the Gangster is CJ’s first comic work, but he has been active as a writer in other contexts before that.

He wrote for the now-defunct Slant and is now writing for Graphic Policy; he also writes a blog at his own site, cjstandalproductions.com.

In his spare time, he teaches high school English, including a class on graphic novels, bringing his lifelong love of comics to academia.

When not writing or teaching, he can be found snuggling up for a good read next to his girlfriend and cat in Wisconsin.