Tag: Fiction

Posted in Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW REDUX: Mammoth Island (Grant Coleman Adventures #5) by Russell James

Posted on by elishasbookreview

*No Major Spoilers*

As paleontologist Grant Coleman waits to board a plane for a much-needed Hawaiian vacation, thugs knock him out and kidnap him. He awakens on a cargo aircraft in flight to find he’s an unwilling member of an expedition to a secret Arctic location called Mammoth Island.

Unscrupulous fossil dealer Angelo Destro has assembled the expedition to steal the fruits of a Russian oligarch’s labors The oligarch’s scientists have resurrected extinct wooly mammoths at the island’s laboratory. But from the moment the plane lands, the plan goes to pieces. The lab’s scientists are missing, the compound is a shamble, and it looks like something enormous has crushed the perimeter fence.

Even worse, Destro isn’t the only one after this prehistoric prize. Before Grant and the others solve the destroyed lab’s mysteries, Russian soldiers arrive. Destro’s group is forced to flee into the surrounding forests, where killer mammoths lurk, ready to hunt more human prey.

Trapped between the twin tips of Russian bayonets and mammoth tusks, who among them will survive and escape Mammoth Island?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I discovered Mammoth Island through the horror authors community that I follow on Twitter. I love how social media can help authors get the word out about their novels, and that’s where I find a lot of my horror books. So let’s dive into Mammoth Island and see what monstrosities await us!

Why doesn’t anyone try and resurrect Pleistocene bunny rabbits? Am I the only person who’s seen the Jurassic Park movies?

Mammoth Island by Russel James

Even though this is the latest novel in this series, I didn’t have a problem jumping in to the story. Grant has been a lot of places and seen a lot of things that some would say were unbelievable. Some of his adventures are so unbelievable to most people that he writes them as monster stories. He seems to be making a decent living off of the profits, but I’m glad he’s still teaching. Grant is a teacher I wish I had.

As for foul language and blood and gore, I didn’t find it to be that offensive compared to other horror novels I read. Only brief descriptions of body horror and mentions of blood. Not much foul language if any at all. Overall, I found this an approachable story.

I love how in the afterword, the author goes into detail about the research he’s done on wooly mammoths and other extinct animals. I mean, it’s fun for some who are interested in archeology and biology. I just appreciate the amount of research that’s gone into this book.

Even though I try and avoid spoilers, I would say that I enjoyed the ending. It wasn’t an “everybody dies” trope ending, but a majority of the characters meet a grisly end.

I would recommend this novel for readers who enjoy monster/kaiju stories, horror fans, and lovers of the wooly mammoth.

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Posted in Book Reviews, Graphic Novels

REVIEW: Thirsty Mermaids by Kay Leyh

Posted on by elishasbookreview
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*No Major Spoilers*

Fresh out of shipwreck wine, three tipsy mermaids decide to magically masquerade as humans and sneak onto land to indulge in much more drinking and a whole lot of fun in the heart of a local seaside tourist trap. But the good times abruptly end the next morning as, through the haze of killer hangovers, the trio realizes they never actually learned how to break the spell, and are now stuck on land for the foreseeable future. Which means everything from: enlisting the aid of their I-know-we-just-met-can-we-crash-with-you bartender friend, struggling to make sense of the world around them, and even trying to get a job with no skill set…all while attempting to somehow return to the sea and making the most of their current situation with tenacity and camaraderie (especially if someone else is buying).

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Most mermaid stories are romances, however Thirsty Mermaids throws that cliché out the window. Pearl, Tooth, and Eez are best friends who enjoy getting drunk together. Even when they realize that Eez may not be able to break the curse and turn them back into merfolk, they trust that Eez will find the answer and just try and make the best of a rough situation.

There isn’t much to say about this graphic novel without spoiling the humor and heart the story has. I enjoyed all of the main characters and their exploits as they try to adjust to human life. Pearl makes friends with a couple of treasure hunters who are regulars at the bar The Thirsty Mermaid. Tooth gets a job as a bouncer at a local club, which I wanted to hear if she had any crazy stories while she was a bouncer there. Eez stays at the apartment of their bartender friend in hopes to figure out a way to break the curse. All while hijinks ensue and a lot of friends are made along the way.

Overall, I think The Thirsty Mermaids is a fun story if you’re tired of the mermaid romance cliche and are looking for a fun lighthearted story with plenty of heart and booze.

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews

REVIEW: Stoker’s Wilde (Fiction Without Frontiers #1) By Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi

Posted on by elishasbookreview
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*No Major Spoilers*

Years before either becomes a literary legend, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde must overcome their disdain for one another to battle the Black Bishop, a mysterious madman wielding supernatural forces to bend the British Empire to his will. With the help of a European vampire expert, a spirited actress and an American businessman, our heroes fight werewolves, vampires and the chains of Victorian morality. The fight will take them through dark forests in Ireland, the upper-class London theater world and Stonehenge, where Bram and Oscar must stop a vampire cult from opening the gates of Hell.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I have read about the supernatural and paranormal in the past, but Stoker’s Wilde comes with a twist. A story about two historical writers coming together and battle the world of the supernatural. I knew I had to read this as soon as I discovered the sequel to this novel has Teddy Roosevelt joining the duo. So let’s dive into Stoker’s Wilde. 

First off, I love how Bram Stoker was just a friend of Oscar Wilde’s brother in this story. He didn’t want to go on this wild goose chase to hunt a werewolf. Werewolves don’t exist. However, with the help of Stoker’s curse, they soon find the werewolf was the captain on one of the ships in the harbor. Afterward, the duo set off into the world of the supernatural, willingly or not.

One thing I liked was how the story progressed through journal entries and letters to loved ones and friends. However, I was getting confused because I started getting minor characters mixed up. I’m not sure if I would still be confused if I read the ebook or not. However, this was a small complaint I had as I was listening through the audiobook. 

Stoker’s Wilde was a tale full of twists and turns. I couldn’t put this book down until I found out who was the leader of London’s vampires as well as what a member of royalty had to do in all of this puzzle. The conclusion will leave you breathless and ready for more! 

I would highly recommend Stoker’s Wilde for fans of horror, historical fiction, and alternative history. I can’t wait to dive into the sequel of this novel and reuniting with these lovable characters again.

Posted in Book Reviews, Guest Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: His Robot Wife: Patience Under Fire by Wesley Allison

Posted on by alexd722

Good afternoon everyone, my name is Alex Dickson, I’m Elisha’s fiance and I’m doing a guest review of a book out of one of my favorite book series. His Robot Wife: Patience Under Fire is an excellent book let’s just start there. I’ll tell you why as we get into the review. Please note there may be some spoilers.

Okay to start off this is a continuation of the story of Mike Smith and his family from the last 5 books in the series. This book continues on starting off with Mike’s son, Lucas in the military out on the front lines. With it starting following Lucas through his battle in Russia just him and his Robot soldiers around him, he’s having it rough out there.

As we go along with the story this book kind of flip-flops between different sections of different characters’ lives. It kind of does it like a movie where it’s written like scenes, multiple scenes in each chapter.

As we continue through the book we learn various things about what’s going on with Patience, Mike, his daughter Harriet, Lucas and his wife as well as a couple of the other cast of the series. When we move over the story of Patience and Mike supposedly the ATF&R (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Robots) are wanting to question Mike and Patience. Patience is the robot wife to Mike and if you’ve ever read the previous books in the series you will have learned Patience was able to reprogram herself to make herself “Free”. When Patience learns of this she takes off without telling Mike where she’s going, but leaves in place, without anyone’s knowledge an exact copy of Patience to take care of Mike.

The story eventually flips to Harriet finally getting out to start dating again and she ends up going out with a tattoo artist, he’s a nice guy and she really likes him, they have a lot of fun together for about the first 3 dates, she eventually drops him off and she forgets to tell him something so she runs back up to his apartment and catches him getting blown by his robot maid. So he tries to explain his way out of it and so far she’s having none of it.

At another point in the story Lucas gets pulled from deployment and sent home with commendations and he finally gets to see his wife, Haruka once again and the rest of his family. Everyone was so delighted to see him and he was especially delighted to see his wife once again.

There’s a critical plot point that I’m about to discuss without going into too much detail just because it’d be a major spoiler, but there’s a point where this robot under a different name takes a trip to Canada for an at first unspecified reason, but she takes a trip to a hub station where the various Daffodil robots’ software is distributed around North America. It’s a really interesting part to the story, but I’m sure it will tie in more into the next book.

I know my thoughts here feel incomplete, but I’m trying to tell about the book without giving too much away and I know my thoughts seem random because I don’t want to give away the order of everything. This is an excellent book and I think any sci-fi/fantasy nerd with an interest in a bit of romance and adventure may like.

But yeah, there’s a lot to this book series and not just this book alone, if you start at the beginning of the series with His Robot Girlfriend you’ll learn how everything begins to lead from one place to the next.

Anyway this series has kept me entertained for the last 6-7 years and I always look forward to the next book in the series. I don’t know if this series will ever conclude, but it’s always a fun read. Like I said I recommend this to anyone that’s into a sci-fi/fantasy style romance adventure. There’s a lot of adventure and different scenes to be had in this series. I like the writing and how it all plays out like a movie, I personally think this entire series could be turned into at least 2-3 feature length films with the amount of story as there is right now.

Posted in Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: Rico Stays by Ed Duncan (Pigeon-Blood Red #3)

Posted on by elishasbookreview
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*No Spoilers* 

After enforcer Richard “Rico” Sanders stepped in to protect his girlfriend from a local mob boss’s hot-headed nephew, all hell broke loose.

When the smoke cleared, the nephew had vanished, but three goons who had tried to help him lay dying where they’d stood. Fighting for his life, Rico was alive but gravely wounded.

Out of the hospital but not fully recovered, he needed a place to crash – a place where he wouldn’t be found by men who surely would be looking. A place like a cabin owned by lawyer Paul Elliott, whose life Rico had saved more than once. Trouble was, Paul’s girlfriend hadn’t forgotten Rico’s dark history. Or Paul’s fascination with him.

Using Rico’s girlfriend as bait, vengeful killers soon would be coming for him. The only question was whether he would face them alone or with help from Paul.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Last year, I reviewed Ed Duncan‘s book The Last Straw. The second installation of the Pidgeon-Blood Red series. Since I enjoyed the previous installment, I couldn’t wait to dive into Rico Stays. 

One rule I live by is I never threaten to do somethin’ I’m not prepared to do if I hafta.

Ed Duncan, Rico Stays

I was concerned about if I should go back and reread The Last Straw. I have a vague memory of the overall plot, and I don’t remember which character appeared more. Each novel in the series you can read as a stand-alone novel. I looked at my last review; I talked about how Rico was my favorite character. Rico still is my favorite character, but I feel like I got to know Paul Elliot more in Rico Stays.

This novel is full of suspense, action, as well as character development. I feel like I got to know each of the major players in this story by the time I got to the last page. No one is one-dimensional in this story.

If you enjoyed the first two books, then Rico Stays should be added to your “To Be Read” list. I would recommend this for those who enjoy modern crime noir, mobster stories, and stories full of suspense and action.

Click Here to buy Rico Stays by Ed Duncan!