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Saturday, March 23, 2024

Reader's Review: "Belle the Beast Tamer" by Pauline Creeden

Synopsis from Amazon:

Belle Parisi didn't know she was a shifter until she was twelve years old—the same day that her mother died. Since then, her father sent her to Wonderland Guardian Academy in Virginia to protect her from the same people who hunted her mother. Shifters become the animal that most reflects their inner being, and for her and her mother, a tiger was found at their core.

Now at seventeen, she's more than ready to graduate and get on with her life, and maybe return home to the small town in Italy. But when she's caught shifting off school grounds, she's given a task instead of a punishment. Another shifter has been discovered hiding out not too far away in the Appalachian Mountains—a dragon shifter.

Belle's not sure exactly what kind of personality brought out the dragon in the man she's hunting, but it couldn't be good...
>>>>>>>>>>>>

My Review:

All the way back in 2019, I got on a massive fairy tale retelling kick that sent me in the direction of Pauline Creeden. I loved her excellent take on The Little Mermaid with Verona: A Mermaid's Tale, so I went into the first book, Red: the Wolf Tracker, with all kinds of hope.

You can read the review >here< to learn whether or not it paid off.

Anyway, about a year later I bought the box set of the Wonderland Guardian Academy series on a book-buying spree, and now at last, five years later, I've finished the next book in the series. Belle's story was longer than Red's, and for that I can be grateful--and yet there were some highs and lows about my reading experience with this one.

First of all, I want to list all the great things about this book: Belle is a tiger shifter, like her mother. I loved that, even though it felt kind of cliche that she would get in trouble with the school administrators for shifting--but at the same time, looking back it might feel more like the whole "getting in trouble" factor was more of a set-up to get her in the room so that she can be commissioned to track a dragon shifter (the "beast" of the fairy tale) who has apparently gone rogue.

So not only do we have tiger shifters, but dragons as well. Score two!

Belle is tasked with tracking the dragon, but in the process of searching the rumored territory, she ends up at an abandoned cottage where she uncovers a conspiracy cover-up that makes it seem like the Guardians she's trusted all her life aren't so trustworthy after all. The owner of the cottage discovers her and takes her prisoner (shades of the "damsel being held prisoner" from the original fairy tale!), but as the tension cools between them, the two end up teaming up to try and investigate what the Guardians are trying to hide, and what it has to do with Belle, and most of all why they had her tracking down the dragon in the first place!

It's a neat story that I enjoyed from start to finish. It felt much less rushed than the first book--albeit there were still some pacing issues, some places moving too slowly, while jumping too quickly from one beat to the next at other points. But it's a solid retelling, with interesting characters, great closure, and further contributing to a larger series arc that promises to pay off very well over the course of these urban fantasy tales!

I'm giving Belle the Beast Tamer a solid *****4.5 STAR***** rating. It's not the most perfect retelling I've ever read, but it's very well-done, it's a spiffing urban fantasy story with plenty of plot that doesn't necessarily involve romance between the characters! If you like shifter stories, fairy tales, and you're looking for good clean urban fantasy, definitely give the Wonderland Guardian Academy a look!

Further Reading: (Also By The Author/Urban Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling)
Verona: The Complete Mermaid Tales--Pauline Creeden
       -Scales 
       -Submerged 
       -Salt 
       -Surfacing
The Firebird Fairy Tales--Amy Kuivalainen
       -The Cry of the Firebird 
       -Ashes of the Firebird 
       -Rise of the Firebird
Lord of the Wyrde Woods--Nils Visser
     -Escape From Neverland 
     -Dance Into The Wyrd 
The Bhinian Empire--Miriam Forster
     -City of A Thousand Dolls 
     -Empire of Shadows
The Valiant Series--Joanna White
       -Hunter
The Portal Prophecies--C. A. King
     -A Keeper's Destiny 
     -A Halloween's Curse 
     -Frost Bitten

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Reader's Review: "Alienation" by S. E. Anderson


Synopsis from Amazon:

Sally Webber's dream is coming true: Zander is back and taking her out for a night on the town--on a planet hundreds of light years away from Earth. But when an accident separates her from her alien tour guide, she’s thrown into the seedy underbelly of an insane city where nothing is as it seems.

Suddenly lost and desperate to get back home, Sally is willing to do anything to get out, even if it means accepting spontaneous marriage proposals, crashing some fancy parties, or joining what appears to be the space mob.

All she wanted was some decent interstellar pizza, but now it might be the end of the world as evil nanobots and an out-of-control AI try to take the universe by force, and the only one who can stop them is missing in action. Sally has no choice but to try to stop them herself--if she can stay alive that long.
>>>>>>>>>>>

It was back in 2019 when I finally got around to reading this book I'd been seeing hyped, not only on the author's page, but also in some writing groups we shared. I went in hoping against hope that it wasn't going to be some kind of smutty alien/human romance, that I would at least find something in at least one character that I found relatable, ready to abandon the story if it got too dramatic for my tastes.
It was one of the most entertaining books I read in 2019. I loved it through and through. So the next time I had a gift card to spend on ebooks, I definitely knew I was going to pick up the next two books in the series!

Which brings us to Alienation, my foray back into the Starstruck Saga after three and a half years. It was like I never left. Anderson picks up right where she left off, and takes Sally, Blayde, and Zander on another wild galactic chase. What begins as just a quick planetary "tour" so Sally can see what life is like on the other side of the galaxy ends up stranding her in the strangest sidetrack she has ever faced. From the most bizarre case of food poisoning (betrayed by pizza, no less!) to ending up in the underbelly of the towering city with no means of returning to the elevated portion, an almost forced marriage, being roped into a high-stakes heist, and infiltrating a government-sponsored party, to trying to stop a sentient computer program from taking over the planet... Sally Webber wanted to see the galaxy, and she's beginning to find out just how big it all really is!

This is where Anderson shines, with her diverse alien races and cultures to match, each one relevant through Sally's basic sensibilities and yet completely foreign to anything we have here on our little planet--I may have only read two of her books so far, but I am seeing a pattern emerge from her of every story being littered with unique and yet relatable characters, eclectic personalities, and always some little detail that presents itself as a clear sign that they aren't all "humanoid." The fact that this is a ten-book series is a feat in itself--but I have a feeling each book is going to be more enthrallingly bizarre and mind-blowing than the last!

I would give Alienation the full *****5 STARS***** rating. Every aspect of the novel was on-point, and I can't wait to see how this series of adventures unfolds! If you're someone who likes a good space-based sci-fi adventure led by a smart, capable, curious woman, and full of creative alien races and spectacular worlds, but without the heavy dependence on romance that a lot of these "space travel" novels typically contain... then I can confirm that the Starstruck Saga is just the thing for you!

Further Reading: (Space-Based Adventure/Awesome World-Building/Sci-Fantasy)
The Children of Dreki--N. R. Tupper
       -TYR
The Chronicles of Lorrek--Kelly Blanchard
        -Someday I'll Be Redeemed 
        -I Still Have A Soul 
        -I'm Still Alive 
        -Do You Trust Me? 
        -You Left Me No Choice 
        -They Must Be Stopped 
        -Find Me If You Can
The PSS Chronicles--Ripley Patton
       -Ghost Hand 
       -Ghost Hold 
       -Ghost Heart 
       -Ghost Hope