Book Reviews by Ehlen Administration

Mineko: Book of Sisters by R.G. Dillon My rating: 4 of 5 stars In 17th century Japan a little girl is ripped from her home and is forced to be a slave to a house of vicious Samurai. As she grows up she only wants one thing, vengeance for her slain family and to find her surviving sister. So begins the story of a female assassin, trained in the ways of the Samurai and ninja - unusual but not impossible. I really enjoyed Mineko; Dillon creates fantastic imagery and the story flows at a great pace. You can feel the emotions of tortured Mineko as she is betrayed and beaten, and struggles to survive in an impossible situation. Fight scenes are meticulously choreographed and delivered in a way so that you see it all and are rooting for the underdog Mineko, and the description of ancient Japan takes your breath away. She is a strong female protagonist without being unrealistically perfect. I look forward to reading about more of Mineko’s descendants, and hope they inherit some of her s...

Buried Threads by Kaylin McFarren My rating: 4 of 5 stars Rachel and Chase keep a blooming love alive while on an underwater Japanese treasure hunt. Buried Threads follows the pair during the second installment of the Threads series, where they run into the Yakuza, a soul-seeking monk, a greedy treasure hunter, a conniving Geisha, and a weird prophecy they are destined to fulfill. While the second book in a series, I read this first and had no trouble with continuity. There is some basic history of Rachel and Chase revealed during conversation, but their relationship blossoms during this book in a way that makes sense even without the first book. It is definitely a thriller, complete with sex, swordfights, and supernatural battle. I really enjoyed the writing and plot development, and while there were a lot of characters to keep track of there was some character development that didn’t hinge completely on plot twists. The sex scenes were a little much for me but that’s never bee...