Book Review: Storm Bride by J.S. Bangs

5 STARS

This book is amazing. Beautifully written scenes that will haunt you, complex characters who feel like real people, sweeping drama, and plenty of moments to leave you holding your breath wondering what will happen next. I finished this book much faster than I anticipated because I did not want to put it down. This is an incredibly powerful story that had me moved to tears more than once. 

I felt so much for the characters. Even though I wanted to hate Keshlik, I couldn't. What he led his people to do was wrong, and yet I felt for their pain as much as for the pain of the people they attacked. Seeing both sides of war from the viewpoint of real people makes this story come alive in a special kind of way. And by real people, I mean characters who are many layered and nuanced, each with a rich backstory and characteristics that set them apart from each other. 

The ending of this story is filled with heartbreak and sorrow, but also joy and peace. It's a beautiful ending to an incredible piece of work. This is fantasy done at its best. 

http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Bride-J-S-Bangs-ebook/dp/B00QXSSXC0/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440951053&sr=8-1&keywords=storm+bride+by+js+bangs

Movie Review: No Escape starring Owen Wilson

We went out to see No Escape at the movies and it was really intense. It was a pretty good movie, despite not having much in the way of a plot. My biggest problem is the way the first scene sort of telegraphs the punch. It was very visceral and certainly worked for shock value as I heard the people around me gasping. But I think the movie could have done better without it, and I'll explain why here in a minute.

After that scene, we were introduced to the main character and his family and what followed was, in my opinion, a well done build up of little things being not quite right in the new city they'd moved to. However, that first scene stole some of the tension from the buildup. It's like the writers were afraid without that first punch, the audience wouldn't understand something was wrong. Personally, I think that was a mistake.

No Escape had a nice blending of fast paced, relentless action, with brief moments of downtime and even some levity. I'm so used to seeing Own Wilson play sort of goofy characters I was doubtful going in that he would do well in this kind of role, so I was pleasantly surprised.

The action scenes were well done and believable, except for one scene which felt a little far fetched to me. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, I'm not going to say which one.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie.

A post on Reblogging Etiquette courtesy of Marcy Kennedy

(Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

I was curious about the idea of reblogging relative content for my blog, as sometimes I find others can expound on a particular subject so much better than I can. But I was uncertain of the rules, or if it was even something permissible to do. The last thing I would ever do is steal someone else's content. So I googled looking for information and actually found this nice little post by Marcy Kennedy. She states in the article that she, personally, is fine with people reblogging the first couple of paragraphs with a link back to her site. So that's what I'm going to do here.

Reblogging Etiquette

A post by Marcy Kennedy

Lately I’ve seen some bloggers wondering what the etiquette should be around reblogging (blogging something previously posted on another blog).

Before I get into the tips, let me say that I think re-blogging can be useful.

If you’re being reblogged, it’s an honor that someone found your content worthy of sharing with their followers, and it can extend your reach and bring people back to your site without the effort of guest posting. If you’re the reblogger, it can sometimes be a lifesaver in terms of getting content up on your site when your week has fallen to pieces. Plus, you’re providing your readers a service through vetting material for them and bringing them the best.

If done incorrectly, though, reblogging flirts with the line of plagiarism. You don’t want to flirt with plagiarism. She carries some really nasty diseases.

So how can we reblog in a professional, mutually beneficial way?

For the full post see: http://marcykennedy.com/2012/12/reblogging-etiquette/

As for me, I don't mind being reblogged so long as the person doing the reblogging credits me as the author of the post and links back to The Shadow Portal. Spreading information and ideas is a lovely thing to do, so long as we don't try to take credit for things which are not ours. 

Cover Reveal: The Other Side Of Gravity by Shelly Crane

 Title: The Other Side of Gravity

Author: Shelly Crane

Series: The Oxygen Series, Book One

Genre: Sci-Fi

Cover Reveal Date: August 27th

Release Date: TBA

Goodreads Link: http://bit.ly/1NTsnHw

My name is Maxton and I’m a trader.

I live on a soulless planet where gravity, oxygen, and everything else are sold to the highest bidder on the black market. People are sold on the black market, too. You have to work really hard not to become one of those people. Pay your taxes, keep your friends and family close, and more than anything else—don’t get caught by the Militia. But all the rules changed for me the day I found her.

My name is Sophelia and I’m a stowaway.

I’ve been a slave for almost as long as I can remember. Waiting for the one day, one second, for my proprietor to turn his head so I could run and never look back. Now I'm on the run. And on a planet where no one is on your side and people would turn you in for a good meal or a piece of a silver, being on the run on Landu is the last place you want to be. Until he found me.

I won't survive without him.

I can't breathe without her.

Shelly is a NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY bestselling author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a fantastical husband and stay-at-home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. She hoards paperbacks, devours sweet tea, searches year-round for candy corn, and loves to spend time with her family and friends, go out to eat at new restaurants, site-see in the new areas they travel to, listen to music, and, of course, loves to read, but doesn't have much time to these days with all the characters filling her head begging to come out. She is author to over twenty books and counting!

Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn’t go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, where her best ideas are born.

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New Release: Crimson Chaos by Amos Cassidy

Crimson Chaos by Amos Cassidy, the thrilling conclusion to the Crimson Series, is out today! Rose, Raven, Roman and the gang must face their own personal demons and come together to fight an invisible threat that challenges the existence of their world.

An ancient prophecy. An entity older than the beginning of time. Surely the survivors of bloody battles on fey beaches deserve a timeout, a chill period, a chance to reflect? Yeah, right! When the gang are faced with an ancient threat, it’s just another day at the office until they realise that this time their efforts may not be enough. This time maybe fate won’t be thwarted, because this time their foe is more powerful than anything they could ever have imagined. It’s a race against time, a race against the unpredictable, and, for the first time, the odds are stacked against them. It’s anyone’s game. No guarantees. No returns. When Khaos strikes, who will be left standing?

What readers are saying…

…Amos Cassidy always does an amazing job of giving you just enough info to follow while still keeping you in the dark until the last possible moment…

…This series has been twisty and turny from book one, which I thought was going to be a typical UF but NOOOOO ... we can't have that. And following the gang's story has kept me on the edge of my seat for the last three years…

Little Read Riding Hood

Fancy A Peek Inside?

Don't miss out on the Goodies!

EXCLUSIVE!!!!!

For the next 48 hours only, you can grab the LIMITED EDITION. Purchase it before 12AM 29th August PST (8AM GMT) to get access to an exclusive download link where you can get books 2 and 3 FREE. The limited edition also contains 7k worth of exclusive content; character interviews, shorts, an author bio from a few years back, told by Roman himself, and Raven does karaoke…yep, that happened.

AMAZON KOBO NOOK iBOOKS SMASHWORDS

Want to know a little bit more about the Authors?

 Amos Cassidy is the pen name for Richard Amos and Debbie Cassidy. Amos is a 31 year old Diva and Cassidy a 38 year old mother of three; well, four if you include the husband. A common love of all things Joss Whedon, Urban Fantasy, and a tug of war over Jensen Ackles, brought them together, and one cold February afternoon, over nibbles and coffee, their partnership was born.

You can find Cassidy hard at work in her fortress of solitude which has eaten up the majority of her garden, and Amos...well he's still trying to get the invisibility gizmo he got off a friendly alien in exchange for a pair of earphones to work. Funnily enough he hasn't been seen around much lately...

Frequent doses of Sugary snacks, coupled with regular injections of caffeine aid in their production of a unique brand of cross genre tales. They are always writing, but are happy to take a break to chat to their wonderful readers, so drop them a line at amoscassidy.com, or just pop over to see what they're working on and they'll bust out the biscuit tin.

Links to Stalk the Authors!

      

Cover Reveal: Quicksilver by Kyra Dune

COMING SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

NA PARANORMAL ROMANCE/SHIFTER

Book Promo: Return To Pandora by Kayla Smith

Title: Return To Pandora

Author: Kayla Smith

Series: Pandora

Genre: YA Fantasy

Blurb: 

A few days before my sixteenth birthday, my mom tells me I’m a princess—a princess with magical powers and a duty to defend the kingdom of Pandora against the evil queen who killed my father. In fact, she’s the reason my mom faked my and her own death. Now that my powers are coming, I don’t have a clue how to prepare. Will my magic kill me or my lifelong best friend Zack? Will I be able to master them in time to destroy Christina before she wreaks havoc on Pandora? 
Everyone expects me to fulfill my destiny, but fighting for people I’ve never met might not be worth the risk. At least, I have Zack by my side.

New Release: Turn Of The Moon by L.P. Dover

iBooks: http://apple.co/1Mac6zj

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1CKlk3e

One girl. Two wolves. Promised to one. Destined for the other.

To escape the cruel, overbearing, Kade, the Yukon Pack alpha she’s been promised to, Bailey Whitehill flees her home in search of a new life, one of freedom where she can make her own choices. However, Kade will stop at nothing to make her his and begins the hunt.

As Bailey starts her new life, everything she’s known to be true, is not. Time is of the essence and choices have to be made or consequences suffered. Not only does Bailey fear Kade, but another danger lurks deep in the recesses of the forest. Unbeknownst to her, that danger is what she’s been searching for all along. At the turn of the moon, her fate hangs in the balance . . . and it’s up to her to make the right choice.

There was a time when I lived for the pack, when I would do anything to save my people. The white wolves were slowly reducing in number, and now everyone was desperate, struggling to make ends meet before we were wiped into extinction. I was twenty-four years old, and a daughter of the Northern pack alpha. It was my duty to continue my lineage. The only problem was, there were no other unmated alphas around other than my best friend, Sebastian, and the supreme douche, Kade Whitemore.

There was no way in hell I was going to alliance myself with that rat bastard. He was alpha of the Yukon pack, violent, and an overbearing ass who’d rather see me on my back with my legs spread open than being his equal. I’d rather die than be forced to be his mate for all eternity. Why couldn’t I mate with Sebastian? Thinking of fucking him gave me the willies, but anything was better than Kade.

Anger racked my body and I sat there, seething . . . until I felt him. He was coming for me; I could sense him drawing near. The closer we got to the meadow, the more I could smell Kade and his excitement—his lust. Hopefully, he could smell the rage and disgust coming from me.

NYT and USA Today Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is a southern belle residing in North Carolina along with her husband and two beautiful girls. Before she even began her literary journey she worked in Periodontics enjoying the wonderment of dental surgeries. Not only does she love to write, but she loves to play tennis, go on mountain hikes, white water rafting, and you can’t forget the passion for singing. Her two number one fans expect a concert each and every night before bedtime and those songs usually consist of Christmas carols. Aside from being a wife and mother, L.P. Dover has written over nine novels including her Forever Fae series, the Second Chances series, and her standalone novel, Love, Lies, and Deception. Her favorite genre to read is romantic suspense and she also loves writing it. However, if she had to choose a setting to live in it would have to be with her faeries in the Land of the Fae.

      

Bait by K.C. Blake

Title: Bait

Author: K.C. Blake

Series: Order Of The Spirit Realm

Genre: YA Paranormal

Price: .99 cents

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CJ182E4?%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

Blurb: 

Forget about good grades; survival is the only thing that matters at Van Helsing’s school for hunters.

After sixteen years on the run, Bay-Lee joins her emotionally distant father at his New Zealand school. On her first night there, he dumps her on the doorstep and walks away. Big surprise. Minutes later, a bag is thrown over her head, and she’s kidnapped for Orientation. The hunter in charge calls her Bait. According to him, that’s all she’s good for, to be used to draw out monsters for experienced hunters to kill.

Before Bay-Lee can move up to the rank of Hunter, she will have to prove herself, battle wraiths, a reaper in disguise, and a stampeding border monster. With the addition of her classes, she’s going to be way too busy for a social life. Falling in love is not on the agenda.

Then, she meets Nick Gallos. With the intimidating rank of Warrior, Nick is gorgeous, arrogant, and just plain rude to her. It’s obvious from their first meeting that Nick is hiding a dark past overflowing with secrets, and her father is right smack in the middle of it. Nick seems to be using her to get even with her father, and she won’t tolerate that. What a jerk.

So, why can’t she stop thinking about him? 

New Website For Authors & Readers

Shadow Portal Books launches today with services available for both authors & readers. http://shadowportalbooks.weebly.com/  In case you're wondering, yes this blog is connected to the website. We both belong to Shadow Portal Productions.

Services are as follows:

For authors:
 
          Premade Cover Art: $30.00-$40.00 
          Custom Cover Art: $80.00
          Banners: $10.00
          Teasers: $5.00
          Editing: 1 cent per word   
          Formatting: $30.00 
          Facebook Party: $10.00 
          Blog Feature: $5.00
          Permanent Website Advert + Inclusion In The Author Directory: $5.00 
          Inclusion In Mailing List: $5.00
http://shadowportalbooks.weebly.com/author-info.html

For readers: 

           Mailing List: FREE http://shadowportalbooks.weebly.com/reader-info.html
          Access to Author Directory and Book Listings: FREE            http://shadowportalbooks.weebly.com/author-directory.html