Book Review: Best Left in the Shadows by by Mark Gelineau and Joe King

When I saw this cover on *Netgalley I immediately had to check out the book summary. The cover was that great looking!

From Goodreads:
A Highside girl. Beaten. Murdered. Her body found on a Lowside dock. A magistrate comes looking for answers. For justice.

Alys trades and sells secrets among the gangs and factions of Lowside. She is a daughter of the underworld. Bold. Cunning. Free. When an old lover asks for help, she agrees. For a price.

Together, they travel into the dark heart of the underworld in search of a killer. 


I normally don't read novellas. The reason being that I often find there to be a big lack of world building and I always want just a bit more. I was pleasantly surprised with this one. The world building was there and even better I could actually see the dingy oily Lowside in my mind. 

I loved the characters and the fact that their past effects how they work together for better and for worse. Alys is a strong character who in some way reminds of a pirate (might be the beaded braids in her hair). Dax was an interesting character as well since he was out of his element being in the Lowside but he held his own.

The mystery element was there and I didn't see the ending coming. That's something that is hard to do with mystery's and I think they did an excellent job with that. 

All in all this was a very enjoyable book that zipped right along. My only complaint of course is that it was too short. I was left wanting more. It almost screamed of needing to be a full length novel. But I really do look forward to reading the next one and plan to. I can totally see the authors putting out an addition with several of the books bound into one. I also plan on checking out some of their other novellas. 

This was a great introduction to me of authors I have never seen nor heard of before but I can see them becoming vastly popular. I'm giving 4 out 5 stars. Well done!

4 out of 5 stars



*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion

Non Book Binges Thursday #1

Here is number 1 in new weekly feature on Life of a Reading Binger. I don't always just binge on books. I binge on life in general and these are the non book related binges I've been indulging in this week.

Clementines! I bought a box of them just before the blizzard hit and I've been eating 1-4 of them daily. I just love how quickly they peel and then the sweet sweet juicyness of them. Since they are so small it is so easy to consume so many of them at a time. So far I've only gotten one that was going south. The rest have been perfectly ripe. I really can't complain. At least I'm getting in my vitamin C! Hmmm...now I want to go grab one of the last ones from that now nearly empty box. You know just to indulge a bit.

I just got done a binge fest of my all time favorite podcast The Black Tapes. If you are a fan of podcasts and creepy radio dramas you HAVE to check out this podcast. I first learned about it from The Nerdist. From the first moment I listened to it I was hooked! It is being called xfiles meets Serial (if you listened to the podcast Serial you'll totally get it). NPR style reporting and heaps of mystery this is simply the best. The acting just keeps getting better and better. They just started season 2 and I relistened to season 1 for the third time in anticipation of the new season. The first episode of the new season did not dissapoint! So if you want to listen to a great spooky tale please please check them out and be sure to rate them. They have a facebook page with a loyal fan following and a reddit board and Twitter as well. Also be sure to check out the other podcast by the same team called Tanis. It is just as good as The Black Tapes. #teamstrand #teamalex

Book Review: Abducting Abby (Dragon Lords of Valdier #1) by S.E. Smith

     Yay, my first review! I've been in an abduction alpha-male romance mood and so I trudged through the looooong line of books I have on my e-reader (ok I really use my cellphone to read ebooks). When I came across this one I knew I had my book. 

From Goodreads:
Abby Tanner is content to live on her mountain creating her beautiful works of art and enjoying the peace and quiet. All of that changes when a strange golden space ship crash lands on it. Now, Abby has to deal with a golden ship, a tortured alien, and an insane local sheriff.

Zoran Reykill knew he had to find a safe place to heal after he escapes from a Curizan military post. When his symbiosis mothership takes him to an unknown planet he finds more than he expects – he finds his true mate. The only problems are Abby doesn’t understand a thing he says and the local sheriff wants her too. There is only one thing the King of Valdier can do, abduct his true mate.

Now Zoran has his hands full trying to keep his true mate safe in his own world while trying to help her accept her new life. He will need all the help he can get to help his stubborn human accept she can make a life in a place other than her mountain back on Earth. He just needs to keep her alive long enough to enjoy it and away from the other males on his planet who wouldn’t mind helping her accept her new sensual body.

One thing he knows he will never regret – abducting Abby 

     Normally I'm not a fan of erotic/erotica books. Mainly just cause I find most sex scenes boring and eye rolling worthy. I love sexual tension and waiting with anticipation for that big moment. In erotica there is little to no sexual tension. Surprisingly, for the most part I was not bored with the sex in this book. There was a few more scenes than is my preference but the plot was still there and so was the romance. 

     I'm a sucker for a hot alpha male and Zoran was all that. Super sexy and super possessive he was the type of alpha I was in the mood to read about. I wasn't so interested in the whole dragon shape shifting thing. Being an alien was enough for me I didn't also need him to be a shapeshifter. As for Abby she really wasn't fleshed out well enough for me. I liked that she had a unique talent (glass blowing) but she was kind of annoying. She was always emotional but never wanted to really discuss things with Zoran despite his repeatedly asking her. I didn't mind the insta-love/lust as this was one of those books where they are mate and therefore fated to be together. 

     I fell in love with Abby's new friends and cannot wait to read Cara's book. I don't know if I would have read the next book if it wasn't for the fact that instantly fell in love with Cara's character and can't wait to see how she drives her man insane. I also think that Carmen's book would be an interesting one as well. So I'll definitely be at least checking out the next book in the series.

     In the end I'm struggling how to rate this book. I think I fall somewhere between 3 and 4 stars but I hate giving half star ratings as most book review sites like goodreads want full star. It wasn't quite good enough to be 4 stars but it was better than just mid-level range. I'm going err on the side of rounding up.

4 out of 5 stars.

First Post

Photo courtesy of Masatoshi

YAY! My first post on my new book blog. Not much to say here but hoping to smooth out the rough edges to my new blog over the next few weeks and begin posting reviews.

I have been a book blogger before but wanted to start fresh and have fun with a new blog and new format. I think it had something to do with the blizzard that swept through Jersey this past weekend. Made me realize how I miss blogging. Hence the hot chocolate photo (nothing better in a blizzard). So cheers to me and I look forward to many many more posts.