Book Reviews by Ehlen Administration

Jamyria: The Entering by Madeline Meekins My rating: 4 of 5 stars Margo is tired of the stares, the silence, the awkwardness. She can’t change the past and she can’t change how teenagers act. But she never thought that stomping away from an awkward teenage encounter would land her falling through a globe into another world that she might be called to save. Jamyria: The Entering is a riveting fantasy tale of a teenage girl who begins down the path of destiny. It is very well written, interspersing Margo’s life in the fantasy world Jamyria with flashbacks of her history that colors her actions in Jamyria. I really enjoyed this first installment of the story, and can’t wait to see how Margo’s story plays out. She is a realistic yet fascinating character, and I love the intertwining of the “real” world and fantasy - kind of a Narnia nod. I’m looking forward to the next book! View all my reviews Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all opinion...

Cycles of Intuition: A journey of insights--An inspiring story about business and life by I. Kostika My rating: 4 of 5 stars Steve has just learned that his Dad is retiring and leaving him the family business. However, the business has some debt, and he has to figure out how to bring it back around to profitable before the bank pulls financing. While a fictional story, Cycles of Intuition is a business book that helps you think through issues and problems in your business. Written in an accessible format, without too many textbook dull examples, it helps you to think through your own business model and format your strengths and weaknesses accordingly. It is really a very easy read, and quite revealing. I found myself trying to apply it to my own job, and hopefully it will pay off down the road! View all my reviews Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all opinions are my own. You can't buy a good review from me, people. I am way too mo...

Mars at Midnight: A Detective Ace Sloan Mystery by William Graham My rating: 2 of 5 stars Detective “Ace” Sloan is investigating a strange murder on Mars. Who would leave a beautiful young woman to die in frigid red sand? Along with new partner, Kate Hammer, Sloan will uncover a strange Martian serial killer, and tangle with politics, education and class warfare along the way. While an interesting premise, I found the writing a bit shallow. A populated, colonized Mars beginning to deal with problems like housing, immigration issues and crime is a really catchy story, but the characters were stereotypical and the plot left little to no suspense. Still if you want an interesting, fast read it’s a good one to download. View all my reviews Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all opinions are my own. You can't buy a good review from me, people. I am way too mouthy for that.

Fairy Godmothers of The Four Directions by Jennifer Morse My rating: 4 of 5 stars Have you ever wondered what happened to Cinderella after happily ever after? Surely she had some serious PTSD after the trauma of her past, right? Well, yeah. So how do you heal from a history of child abuse so that you can be an effective Queen? You ask the Fairy Godmothers of the Four Directions to help you heal. As a social worker I loved the use of the Cinderella story to illustrate healing from trauma as serious as death and child abuse. The writing was filled with healing imagery and illustrated the journey to wholeness that Cinderella had to take in order to step into her role as princess. I think that everyone can take pieces of this story and apply it to your own journey - we all have parts of our past that we have to work through, even if they aren’t as serious as those Cinderella had to overcome. I found myself contemplating different aspects of my personality and how I related to those ...

Zeal Master Way of the Warrior by Rahmel Garner My rating: 1 of 5 stars This world is full of constant battle between ordinary humans and the extraordinary zeal masters - those who carry the sacred zeal mark. Legend tells of a human who can rise up and defeat the evil zeal masters and bring harmony to everyone, but can it be true? Can Zirei embrace his destiny despite the rage in his heart? I like martial arts stories. And I like paranormal stories. You would think the combination would be a no brainer. But this was written like a 14 year old forgot to go to grammar class and stayed home to play Street Fighter instead, and then fell asleep while watching Yu Gi Oh. The grammar, punctuation and spelling was combined into run on sentences as commas just kept coming in rapid succession. The story seemed like it could have had at least some video game narration depth, but it was so hard to read and characters just kept getting killed off before we really ever got to know them that...

BIO-Sapien book 1 - Optic-warp by Vlane Carter My rating: 3 of 5 stars Jaden has to make a tough choice, does he trust the military who are chasing him, or does he trust the UFO scanning him? If he chooses the military then he stays on earth, but would anyone ever hear from again? But if he chooses the UFO will he ever see his friends and family? Will they probe him like some kind of experiment? He has to make his choice now if he wants to live. Bio-Sapien Optic Warp is the first in a series of sci-fi action/adventure type graphic novel. I’m honestly not sure if it is classified as a graphic novel or note as not all of the illustrations loaded for me. (Note, I read it on a Kindle, and not all of the pictures downloaded, some had what looked like QR codes or place holders - might want to update that because I think the illustrations are really helpful to understand some of the choppier action scenes.) I should note the writing is in present tense deliberately, and many of the sce...

Blind Mission: A Thrilling Espionage Novel by Avichai Schmidt My rating: 4 of 5 stars Dan is a secret super spy. So secret, in fact, that he is not aware of his status himself. He feels controlled by forces outside of him, but can they really manage him? The Mossad is pretty sure he is the only guy who can execute this mission, but is he too good for even an elite intelligence force to keep ahead of? Can Dan really outrun and outsmart the Mossad? And if he can, what will he leave in his wake? Blind Mission is an international geopolitical thriller. I really enjoyed the psychology of Dan attempting to figure out how he was being manipulated and how to get out of it. I noticed a few grammatical errors but they were pretty minor, and didn’t affect the pace of the story. On the whole I did have a little trouble suspending disbelief, as one man outsmarting the Mossad seemed awfully high level for a blind agent. But overall I found it to be a real page turner, and I was very engaged t...

Quantum Heights: The Dead Path Chronicles by Richard A Valicek My rating: 2 of 5 stars Confidus knows that the vampire threat is growing; they are gaining power and he has to stop it. Of his four sons, Caprius is the best choice to investigate and eliminate the threat, but the Golden Fleece says he can’t do it alone. Confidus must send him out on his quest, even though his wife is recovering from her own vampiric encounter. I was hoping this was more than a Twilight knock off, and it was - unfortunately, not in all good ways. I appreciated that it wasn’t all vampire bites and werewolf angst, but the only epic part of this book was the random assault of repetitive adjectives in staccato sentences. The need for a no-nonsense editor is dire. I can tell there are symphonic plots itching to be put on paper, but there were very basic grammar and spelling mistakes and choppy, clunky descriptions that felt more like an attempt at stage blocking directions rather than an epic tour throug...

Ahriman: The Spirit of Destruction by Puja Guha My rating: 3 of 5 stars Petra retired from being an Agency field agent years ago and vowed never to return after the experiences she had. But she may be the only one who can take down the Ahriman, an assassin named after the Persian god of destruction. Will she risk her life and sanity to go back, or will she walk away from the Agency and risk the blood of thousands of innocents? Ahriman is a thriller, criss crossing the globe to track down a killer. While I loved the plot, the structure of the book was a little clunky, jumping back and forth in time a little too much and trying a little too hard to establish a somewhat predictable secret. I think it probably needed to be edited a little more thoroughly. I did like that it was still followable, because there weren’t too many characters or needlessly complicated twists. As the first of a series, though, it does a great job establishing a character with a complicated and conflicted p...

I have had glasses since I was in third grade, and my prescription has always been pretty bad. If I’m not wearing glasses or contacts I quite literally cannot see my hand in front of my face - it’s just a flesh colored blur. Naturally, I was interested in improving my eyesight, and the freer the better, since I can’t afford Lasik even though I’m apparently an ideal candidate. This is not a quick cure, but there are some solid points in there. I can’t say that my eyesight is vastly improved, but your health will improve overall with some of the suggestions and points given in this book. I need to be more consistent with these exercises, but bottom line is they will not harm you, so they are absolutely worth a try. I have been slowly detoxing my life and health, using more natural cleaning products and essential oils instead of OTCs, so this fits right in with my new approach. Good luck to all who try it! Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all...

Raptor Cop: The Battle With Willie The Worm by J. Pedicini My rating: 4 of 5 stars What happens when a dedicated cop gets splashed with an experimental liquid designed to restore prehistoric cells - RAPTOR COP! Stan must make the most of his situation, and fight the evil Willie the Worm to rescue the brilliant Juanita Parker. Will he find her in time? This graphic novel origin story is beautifully drawn, although a little light on dialogue in my opinion. Still it is a really easy, fast read and given that I’m desperately trying to get my special needs 9 year old to love reading as much as I do, I believe we will be using this as a reading discussion point ASAP! FYI - this ebook is FREE on Amazon and B&N right now, so get it while you can! View all my reviews Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all opinions are my own. You can't buy a good review from me, people. I am way too mouthy for that.