Teri Brown’s Born of Illusion is the first of a new series centered on Anna Van Housen, a talented illusionist with legitimate extra-sensory powers. When we meet Anna and her mother, the famous medium Marguerite Van Housen, they have finally settled into a routine in New York of the 1920s. After a lifetime of moving from town to town with traveling circuses and dodging police, the Van Housena ladies finally have permanent billing at their own theater and their own apartment. Anna and her mother […]
Trilogy Tour #6 – Acacia #3
Acacia’s sins have finally come home to roost as the Auldek, who for generations purchased quota children (child slaves) from Acacia in exchange for the addictive drug mist, are on the verge of invading the Known World. In their way stand the four Akaran siblings. Yes, four, as Aliver, who perished at the end of the first book, has been brought back to life by Corinn’s sorcery. But Aliver’s return from the dead has not softened Corinn; rather, her manipulations and schemes grow to new […]
When Good Superheros Go Rogue
I have a confession to make. Please don’t judge me for this, but before I saw The Avengers I didn’t know anything about Marvel Comics. I hadn’t seen any of the other movies yet. I’d heard about them, of course, but they never interested me enough to really make the effort to see them. After The Avengers, though, I made a point to watch them all and now own most of them. I eagerly read each piece of news about the new movies as they […]
Take a chance, and fall in love
“One never stops to think what underlies romance. Tragedy and terror, transmuted by time. Add a little art in the telling, and voila! a stirring romance, to make the blood run fast and maidens sigh.” (470) I wasn’t sure I wanted to read Outlander (1992) by Diana Gabaldon. I first heard of it through a Cannonball review. Although I believe Mrs. Julien called it a classic, there appeared to be some mixed feelings. The novel was reported as an amalgam of time travel, history, and […]
Dreams of Gods and Monsters
Sometimes writing reviews are much harder than reading. Sometimes you have to figure out how to write a review for a book that you just hated, or a book that you loved so much that it’s hard to see past your own enjoyment to write something remotely intelligible. Other times, you’re stumped because the book hit you in a strange place and it just wasn’t what you were expecting. All three books in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone Sage fall into the category of […]
3 YA New Releases from Entangled Teen
When people complain that young adult novels have nothing to offer the serious reader, it’s pretty clear to me that they’ve never actually read any YA. These new releases from Entangled Teen deal with issues ranging from human cloning and reproductive coercion to arranged marriages and people who ostracize anyone with “impure” bloodlines. Plus, dragons, because YA can get away with being a lot more fun than some other genres!