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Vazdrag: Silver Tears Book 3 (Silver Tears Series)by Daniel J. Strait

21/1/2019

Reviewed For Reader's Favorite by Grant Leishman

Vazdrag: Silver Tears Book 3 by Daniel J Strait will take you on an epic fantasy journey through the author created worlds. This is the third book in a series that ultimately aims to discover and unite the five members of an ancient and mythical prophecy. In Vazdrag, three of the members of the prophecy are together; Nakiata (A Shadow of Thought – ‘SOT’ Master), Dravone (A Morphan – similar to a werewolf) and Ka’tia, their latest addition who is a Warrior Princess from Zondura. Together the trio seek the next member of the prophecy by entering “Black Doors”, which will take them to other worlds and galaxies. This particular Black Door on Zondura, however, has the trio lost and seemingly travelling in circles. Eventually, though, they emerge and will form alliances with various creatures, offering help in exchange for further information about the Prophecy.

Daniel J Strait has taken considerable time and effort in this series in creating worlds and creatures that are unique to him, as a writer and I would congratulate him for that. The read is interesting and exciting at times as the trio battle to overcome the obstacles, deceptions and warlike characters placed in their way on this journey. The latent sexual tension between the two female characters (Nakiata and Ka’tia) and the single male, Dravone was palpable and at times riveting. For me, this was one of the highlights of the writing, since, for me, character often trumps adventure. For lovers of the genre, however, there is plenty of action, along with great character development. Vazdrag: Silver Tears Book 3 is a good, solid read and any fan of epic fantasy is bound to enjoy it. I’m sure, like all good series, reading from the start is desirable, but this can be read as a standalone. I am intrigued enough to wonder how Book Four will develop as the team look for the next member of this prophecy. It’s a recommended read.

You can take a look at Vazdrag plus the rest of this series, here, on Daniel J Strait's Amazon page:

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heartless (the kings #3) by alena des

12/1/2019

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Heartless (The Kings #3) by Alena Des was an interesting change for me, from the usual vampire fare. This story is so much more than that, mixing several different styles of magic and fantasy. Riley is a man on a mission - to regain his heart, that Lucifer has seized from him. When Riley, who is the son of a sex Goddess and used to woman swooning at his feet, meets Oriana, he is enchanted by her and shocked at his inability to make her lust after him as most women do. Together they form a formidable team as they battle to survive in the midst of a Vampire war and the relentless hunt of Lucifer for Riley.

I was captivated by the characters in this story. I especially liked Oriana, as a female lead, who was strong, independent and successful, but still a woman, in every way. I thought author Des did a marvelous job of weaving different strands of the story together into a single narrative. I'm assuming, since this is noted as The Kings #3, that this is a series, but you certainly wouldn't be able to tell that just from reading this book. It is a standalone and thoroughly readable story in its own right. Perhaps the best tribute I can pay to this author is to say how seamlessly she melded the different strands of magic and fantasy together into a single story. I can highly recommend this read and am definitely motivated to check out other books in this series and by this author

You can find Heartless, here, on Alana Des' Amazon page:

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free traffic frenzy: how to get 450,000+ website visitors by don sevcik

12/1/2019

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Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman

Free Traffic Frenzy: How to get 450,000+ Website Visitors by Don Sevcik is a targeted and focused book aimed at those of us who use the internet to either sell something or draw people to our website to impart information to them. The author goes into great length and detail explaining exactly how to use SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to massively increase the amount of traffic to your site and perhaps more importantly to keep that traffic on your site and browsing until they purchase. This is not one single fix to attract traffic, rather this is a combination of small tweaks and intentional actions that many website owners overlook, to take advantage of the algorithms that drive, principally the Google search engine. The author uses his own particular website, a math problem solving site, and by discussing the issues and problems he has encountered and the solutions to these, he is able to impart knowledge that can help anyone dramatically increase the amount of traffic that is driven to their website.

What I particularly liked about Free Traffic Frenzy: How to get 450,000 Website Visitors was that although some of the technical issues discussed were well outside of my grasp, as a reader, the concepts that underline these “fixes” were perfectly explained and outlined using real world examples by author Don Sevcik, so although I personally may not understand exactly how to implement the changes, I can certainly explain them to someone who has the technical know-how. I thought the author’s ability to relay information that is sometimes complex and technical, in laymen’s terms, was the biggest selling point of this book. There are thousands of books out there that purport to tell you how to understand and optimise search engines, however, this one stands out for two reasons. Firstly, the author has clearly achieved success with this formula on his own websites and secondly, many of the fixes and suggestions are straightforward and common sense even to those of us who are less “tech savvy”. If you are looking to take your business and website to the next level, this is an excellent book to start with.

You can find Free Traffic Frenzy, here on Don Sevcik's Amazon page:

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presumed dead by martin knox

6/1/2019

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Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman

Presumed Dead by Martin Knox is a crime mystery that almost has a feel of the “Perry Mason’s” about it. Jane Kenwood is a maverick local council politician who has been expelled from her party, which currently governs the city of Alexandra. She continues to frustrate and annoy her ex-colleagues on the Council by staying in politics and winning re-election as an Independent. When a Casino Proposal, requiring the demolishing of a heritage building, is presented to the City and supported by the ruling Council, Jane goes into attack mode to try and stop it and to propose an alternative use for the heritage listed building – a multicultural centre for the use of all the diverse ethnic needs of Alexandra’s citizens. When her colleagues, Dr Phillip Keane and her old friend Cutter, both cross the party floor to oppose the Casino, it suddenly seems like Jane may have mustered the support to defeat this proposal. But, then Jane goes missing and the hunt is on to find her abductors and/or murderers. Dr Keane, a former police forensic scientist takes the lead in the investigation of finding Jane. His incentive is Jane and he are lovers and he is desperate to recover her and destroy the perpetrators.

Presumed Dead is a classic “whodunit” and author Martin Knox does a very credible job of describing, in detail the investigative techniques of crime scene analysis that the character had developed in his years as a police forensic scientist. The story is well-constructed, with possible “red-herrings” thrown in at appropriate points. The two principal characters of Jane and Phillip are well drawn and easy to relate to and empathise with. It is interesting, that as in real life, Knox has sought to bring two people together in a romantic relationship that have polar opposite personalities. Jane, the firebrand extrovert with a passion for politics and Phillip the quiet, methodical, introvert who struggles to relate to people on a personal level. I particularly enjoyed the political undertones of the story and the ideals of what truly constitutes democracy. The idea of scrapping political parties and independent politicians voting on their conscience every time has been floated often and I think even trialled occasionally. It brings a real modern-day relevance to the story – one only needs to look at the political turmoil in the US at present to see the dangers of partisanship and party politics. All in all, a very satisfying read and one I can recommend.

You can find Presumed Dead by Martin Knox, here on Amazon:

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dark serenade (montenegro #2) by estela vazquez perez

2/1/2019

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Dark Serenade (Montenegro, #2) is a continuation of the story of Victor Montenegro, from a well-to-do and influential Californian family, who gets more than he bargained for when he travels to New Orleans to escape a broken heart. Montenegro, a devil-may-care, treasure hunter is caught up with a group of vampires in New Orleans and discovers to his horror, what vampirism and demons are all about.
You do not have to have read Book 1, to enjoy this dark and mysterious tale, but I have and this is just a continuation of the wonderful story and beautiful language of author Estela Vazquez Perez. Perez very definitely has a way with words and her books are a delight to read, as the stories just trip off the tongue and draw fantastic mind pictures for the readers. At its heart, this series is very much a story about unrequited love and the pain that goes along with living forever, as a vampire, combined with the inability of a vampire to consummate true and lasting romantic love with another person. The characters from the first book are still there, but this book focuses very much on the life of Montenegro, after he returns to California and comes to terms with the idea that he is now an abomination and will live forever, but can never find true and lasting love.
I am generally not a great reader of vampiric fantasy, but Perez not only makes her characters real and the reader empathetic to them, she weaves a beautiful story as she goes. I cannot wait for the next iteration of this series to see where Perez takes these characters that I have come to adore.
Dark Serenade is an excellent read and one I can highly recommend.

You can find Dark Serenade here on Estela Vazquez Perez's Amazon page, along with the rest of her superb stories.

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Setting the Record Straight: The True Story of How I Stopped a Murderous Tyrant and Saved the World From Nuclear War by V.W. Shurtliff

2/1/2019

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Setting the Record Straight by V.W. Shurtliff is a young/adult dystopian story that follows the adventures of fourteen-year-old Thomas, his best friend, thirteen-year-old Veronica and Thomas' big, red dog, Elmo as they battle the evil scientist Gibion and his Gibionite followers who plan to destroy the United States and democracy, believing that dictatorship is the only way forward for society, with, of course, the evil Gibion as the dictator.
When Thomas wakes up one morning, little does he realise his life will change forever. With his parents missing and a dying man lying in his living room, who tells him to flee for his life, Thomas barely escapes their family home before it is blown to smithereens. After he links up with Veronica, the pair, plus the dog begin a frantic adventure to destroy the Gibion control centres before he has the opportunity to take over the Government and forever destroy the American way of life.
Setting the Record Straight is a tale right out of my childhood, "Boys' Own Annuals". It is fast, furious and always exciting. The teenage pair and their dog are thrown into situations few adults could cope with and yet they handle them with courage, aplomb and certainty. There is no shortage of action in this story and young adults who love action adventure will doubtless lap it all up. I did enjoy the ancillary character of Dr David who brought some sanity and commonsense into every situation.
This is a fun read and exactly what it purports to be, an action adventure for young people. I can definitely recommend this read to its target audience.

You can find Setting the Record Straight, here on V.W,. Shurtliff's Amazon page:

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vath's legacy (The rufino factor book 4) by joshua Rem

2/1/2019

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Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman

Vath’s Legacy (The Rufino Factor: Book 4) by Joshua Rem is the continuation of a fantasy series by this author. Rufino is a Vampire who inhabits the world of Ch’ulu and is on the hunt for his missing mobile coffin, which was beneath a cart that he has now lost. It is the eve of the Winter Solstice and the humans are celebrating the arrival of the fat man in the red suit, which for Rufino means cookies left out for the jolly man, that he, Rufino, can steal to feed his sweet tooth. Despite his small size, Rufino has performed many acts of heroism over the years and he has a strong moral compass to guide him in what is right and wrong. The beautiful, mysterious, and greatly feared, druid-sorceress, Kiralyn Frostwhisper is both Rufino’s greatest nemesis and his deepest fantasy. Unsure and uncertain of his own attractiveness to Kiralyn, he takes what little affection he can from her, when it is on offer. It is Kiralyn, though, he must unite with and work with if the evil Vath Legacy is to be overcome and defeated.

This story, Vath’s Legacy (The Rufino Factor: Book 4) was a real eye-opener for me, as a reader. Used to fantasy tales full of weird and wonderful creatures who partake in epic battles, author Joshua Rem has scaled that back and focused very much on the characters and their development, especially the characteristics of their makeup that make them do what they do. Rufino is not your typical vampire at all. He cares about doing the right thing and appears not to have an amoral bone in his body. Deeply attracted to Kiralyn, he cannot believe that she could possibly find him attractive and this constant seeking of her approval plays a large part in the story. I am aware that this book is part of a series, but you don’t have to have read any of the other offerings to truly enjoy this book. What this story did make me want to do, was to read more of this series and of this author. I think that’s the greatest compliment a reviewer can pay an author of a series. Vath’s Legacy is a tale of the underdog, battling against prejudice and seeking acceptance for who he is, as an individual, rather than who he is as a race or a species. The parallels to society today are clear and noticeable. I would describe this book as Fantasy with a heart and soul. I can highly recommend it.

You can find Vath's Legacy, along with the rest of Joshua Rem's work, here on his Amazon page:

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Vazdrag: Silver Tears Book 3 (Silver Tears Series)by Daniel J. Strait

heartless (the kings #3) by alena des

free traffic frenzy: how to get 450,000+ website visitors by don sevcik

presumed dead by martin knox

dark serenade (montenegro #2) by estela vazquez perez

Setting the Record Straight: The True Story of How I Stopped a Murderous Tyrant and Saved the World From Nuclear War by V.W. Shurtliff

vath's legacy (The rufino factor book 4) by joshua Rem

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