Review of "Trial by Fire" by Margarita Gakis‏

Trial by Fire - Covencraft Book One
Margarita Gakis

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
Publisher: Fable Press

Date of Publication:  6/25/2013

Number of pages: 325
Word Count:  84,000

Book Description:

Jade leads a structured life:
Routine job.
Caffeine addiction.
No serious relationships.
And now, she can spontaneously set things on fire with her mind.

Well... perhaps “normal” was never in the cards for her. As she questions her own sanity and spirals out of control, a man appears on her doorstep and tells her that, like him, she’s a witch.

Pulled in all directions, her unbridled magic draws dangerous attention and Jade wonders if she’s made the worst mistake of her life by joining a coven, or if she’ll even live long enough to regret it.

World building: The Coven world building was very interesting and I enjoyed Miss Gakis' rendition of Coven life. I love to read about witches so this story I found very intriguing with the ability for the heroine, an untrained witch, born outside of a coven to set things on fire. I liked the world of covets that was created in Book One of this series.

Characters: I immediately liked the heroine, Jade, from the very beginning. She is strong, independent and I love her quirks, which make her very real, such as her caffeine addiction. Her snark is fresh and not over the top. There wasn't a lot of backstory presented in the opening chapters, which I loved as I looked forward to figuring out the reasons for Jade's attitude and her background. I also enjoyed the hero, Paris almost as much as Jade.

Fresh Factor: As mentioned earlier in this review, I found this story fresh. I liked the world that was created and I found that the characters were people that I could root for. Jade is a typical Urban Fantasy heroine with her spunk and snark, but Miss Gakis' writing voice created a freshness that I found very appealing.

Overall: I don't have much to criticize. The beginning with Paris and Callie was a little slower, but it presented the necessary background information and setup the events of bringing Jade back to their coven. The writing was solid, not too description and I enjoyed the switch with point of views. I enjoyed the story and will be looking for Book Two.

About the Author:

Margarita loves the art, creativity and romanticism of storytelling. Sometimes, however, the act of putting pen to paper proves challenging, elusive. She develops genuine, relatable characters which grow in the hearts of her readers. From that foundation, the stories flourish into a warm friend.

She enjoys pursuits which blur the lines between the analytical and creative sides of her brain. This includes her day job in electronic data management, where she uses her creativity to solve logical problems, and also her lessons learning to play the cello, where she finds beauty in the structure of music and the instrument. She believes there is a place for both logic and imagination to work together. When they do, the results are magical.

Margarita has a special spot in her heart for dogs and lives with three of them. It can be a little overwhelming but the quality snuggle time makes up for it.

Margarita lives in Calgary, Alberta with her family.

http://margaritagakis.wordpress.com

Twitter:  @margaritagakis

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/CovencraftSeries

Rafflecopter Giveaway!!! Five copies of Trial by Fire!!!

Review of JL Madore's "Blaze Ignites"

Review:

Blaze Ignites Scourge Survivor Series: Book 1
JL Madore

Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy Romance
Word Count: 107,000

Today, I reviewed JL Madore's "Blaze Ignites", a Paranormal/Fantasy Romance novel.

Book Description:

"Blaze Ignites blends strong, clever women and tough, sexy men in a fast paced, volatile cocktail of action, seduction and wicked humour."

I would say that on the Paranormal/Fantasy Romance spectrum, the novel was more Fantasy than Paranormal. I am a hard-core Paranormal Romance reader and have only dabbled into the Fantasy Romance side, but I enjoyed the different read.

World building: At the beginning, I struggled a tiny bit as I wasn't used to the fantasy world painting. The series of Para-Rom's that I read take place in our world, where Miss Madore explores a world different than ours. The fantasy world that was created was very interesting and very unique as I've never read a book that featured elves (especially hot elves). The world building was very intricate from the history of why the elves were banished. I also enjoyed the jump into our society, including the streets of downtown Toronto, Ontario.

Characters: At the beginning, the heroine, Jade Glaster seemed almost too hard-core, too alpha-female and I was not as sympathetic towards her until moving past the first few chapters, where the reader learns the reasons for her attitude/personality. I liked her more once I could see the reasons for her boundaries. The cast of characters were three-dimensional and very interesting. I loved the use of the exiled Elves and before I read this book, I'd never thought of elves as sexy, until reading about Galan. The characters are unique and interesting from Jade's best friend Lexi to her ex-boyfriend Samuel and the adopted father, Reign. She made very good use of the different personalities of the characters and everyone was truly one of a kind.

Pros & Cons: As I mentioned above, I am a Para-Rom reader so this was one of the first Fantasy Romance novels that I read so it did take me a little bit to get used to the high level of description. I now realize that when creating a fantasy world, it is required to give the reader an overall landscape of everything from the settings, surroundings to the variations in paranormal creatures. The novel was very long (107,000 words) and it required more "conscious" reading in order to understand.  I also found that the story started off a little slow, but I recommend that readers stick with it because it gets better and better!

Fresh Factor: I'm not a true judge of the fresh factor as I am new to the fantasy world, but to me, I found it fresh. I loved the elf world and the magical Realm of the Fair. As a Canadian living about an hour from Toronto, I was also super excited to see the real-world setting in Toronto. I found that fresh as I haven't seen the city used in many books.

Overall: I enjoyed the read and for fantasy fans, I would recommend this. The actual writing of Miss Madore is very well crafted. The world that was created was interesting and the characters are awesome. I would give the book 3.5 stars and will look for Book 2 to come out.

About the Author:

September 2009 marked the beginning of my journey with writing paranormal/fantasy romance novels. After spending a year hiatus in Panama with my family, I returned to Ontario relaxed and ready to let stories flow from my mind onto the page. The only problem was—I didn’t know a thing about the craft of writing.

Almost four years later, after dozens of workshops, reading hundreds of books, joining a writing community and two critique groups, I've won two writing scholarships and believe I've got a handle on what I’m trying to say and the voice with which I want to say it.

Currently, I am working on the five book Scourge Survivor Series as well as a darker, erotic/romance paranormal series currently called Watchers of the Grey.

Website: www.jlmadore.ca

Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/JLMadore

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlmadore

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17833323-blaze-ignites