Book Reviews by Ehlen Administration

The Quest for Hope by A.S. King My rating: 4 of 5 stars Aliatta has been raised a princess, but has never quite been able to pinpoint why she has such terrible dreams. She is always fighting terrible monsters she can’t defeat herself, but is defended by beautiful, shining creatures. Unbeknownst to her, Aliatta has been selected by the High King for an impossible quest, and her dreams are just the beginning. The Quest for Hope is book one in a new young adult Christian Fiction series, Invisible Battles. The story begins with obvious Biblical imagery of the Garden of Eden, but the book itself definitely has it’s own story that alludes to the allegorical nature of Narnia and Middle Earth without copying it completely. Full disclosure, waaay back in the day when blogging was not the industry it is now, I had a Xanga blog (true story) called “Chri-Fi Commentary” where I reviewed Christian Fiction - the good, the terrible and the plain uncalled for. I’m happy to say that while this ...

Church of Martyrs by Pete Fusco My rating: 4 of 5 stars Eddie, former priest and current sole occupant of the derelict Church of Martyrs in Cleveland is really not sure why he has garnered the attention of any assassin, but he’s grateful the creepy, over realistic statues of famous Church martyrs were there to save him. Now if he could just figure out what they want from him, and how to stay alive and maybe how to keep the pope alive, that would be awesome. I loved the somewhat sacrilegious humor coupled with the healthy skepticism of religion in general, although the Catholic Church was the prime target in this one. I also loved that it was a fast paced globe trotter and the added supernatural aspect, although as a social worker, I was a little frownie at the relationship progression. Still it is a great read, and anyone looking for a quick read should definitely pick this one up. View all my reviews Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, ...

Elements by Solomon Deep My rating: 3 of 5 stars The idea of Elements intrigued me. Although fiction revolving around a journey to find oneself is certainly nothing new, Alan’s evolving from self-absorbed juvenile to world-battered optimist combines the qualities of introspection with life experiences in a very satisfying way. From the beginning when he dumps his girlfriend and just starts driving to the end when he has to pull himself back to reality in order to clean up his mother’s mess it is abundantly clear what is going on in his head and he processes it with his writing throughout. So while Alan is not exactly your knight-in-shining-armor sort of hero, he does sum up the irritation of adolescence and the discovery that the world does not revolve around you. While the idea intrigued me and I loved the depth and diversity of the characters there were a few things that were a constant annoyance throughout. While seemingly trivial, I could not get used to the use of the metri...

The Screaming by David Graham My rating: 3 of 5 stars Teenagers are mysteriously and creatively coming up with ways to murder their parents and commit suicide, and no one can figure out the impetus. When officer Dale Franklin with the Kansas City Police Department walks in on a gruesome scene and finds himself an unwitting extra in the deceased’s YouTube video, a multinational whirlwind investigation leads to his partnering with the CDC, MI5, and a boy genius from Kenya to uncover the reason these teenagers brains are shrinking and causing them to commit vile acts. The Screaming is a thriller that is fast paced and graphic (for those of you with weak stomachs, this might be one to preview first.) Both the murder-suicides are written in gruesome detail, but also the scenes inside the teenager’s heads depict an awful environment that leads to their own destruction, which is necessary but intensely sad. While well written, I still found myself having to willfully suspend my disb...

Saving Grapes by J.T. Lundy My rating: 4 of 5 stars From the author of Happy Utopia Day, Joe McCarthy ( which I loved - read the review here ) comes an altogether different genre of novel - the romantic comedy Saving Grapes. Because I loved the dystopian sarcasm of Happy Utopia Day, I was a little skeptical of the translation to a romantic comedy. Fortunately, I kept an open mind and was not disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it was a much fluffier story than the other, but it was still a good, fast read, and managed to connect the Midwest and French wine country, which made me happy. Saving Grapes starts with Jason’s legal problems complicated by the death of his champion, Aunt Clara. However, she left him a solution - hard work on the family’s vineyard, which he will inherit with proper adherence to the terms in her will. Of course he had to surrender his passport to the court and promise to pay damages, but selling the vineyard will solve all his problems with none of the har...

The Quest of Narrigh by S.K. Holder My rating: 4 of 5 stars Connor wakes up in an frighteningly familiar place, a world he thought only existed in the computer game he was playing, Quest of Narrigh. How did he get there, and can he figure out how to get home to London before game over? Every boy who plays video games has dreamed of really being the hero of the game, but that reality is far more frightening than assumed. The Quest of Narrigh is the first book in The Other Worlds series, and does a good job of setting the stage while leaving the reader wanting more. Author S.K. Holder artfully sets up characters and plot points, and I really appreciated the map of the world in the game, as well as the explanation of races and factions. I am one of those gamers who loves to take the time to actually read the back story rather than just scroll through it, and I think anyone reading this book will appreciate how critical that step is. If you are a fan of fantasy and/or role playing g...

Death and Disappearances by Richard Smiraldi My rating: 3 of 5 stars Montgomery Clark, a struggling author who is lucky enough to come from a family who can afford to support a starving artist, is frantically looking for his missing wife, Petula Beaujolais. She stormed out after a spat and hasn’t been seen since. On his way to find her we meet many characters, some from the present and some not so present. Will he find her and reunite or will the worst be discovered? Death and Disappearances reads like 1950’s film noire, with a bit of more modern sparkly vampire supernatural thrown in for good measure. The main characters, particularly the upper class socialite snobs, seem a little over the top to be believable, although terribly amusing. I have to admit the ending was a bit predictable, but I would have actually liked more monologuing by the eventual villain, particularly more about how/why Petula’s fate came to be. She reconciled the explanation a bit too quickly and cleanly w...

Although author Alexander McDonald seems to think that the first in his series of books, Hire Me or Fire Me, is a novel, it is pretty clear that he is writing more of a memoir of his life as a resentful Canadian immigrant from Scotland. As a young lad his parents moved the family for job reasons, and a young McDonald deeply misses his romanticized Scottish boyhood. The rest of the book details his dislike of Canada both in the school system and the employment situations. As the title suggests, the bulk of the book focuses on his many jobs in the sales field, starting with the typical short-lived and ill-fated teenage jobs at a gas station, a funeral home and McDonalds, and continuing with cars and pharmaceutical sales. Largely, the book suffered from a lack of focus, as it seems to be a memoir posing as a novel, but also tries to bring in little tidbits of wisdom gleaned from the sales world and constant interaction with people. He can’t quite find the voice he wants, as it is larg...

Meritropolis by Joel Ohman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Charley has just achieved a score of 118, one of the highest in Meritropolis. That score will afford him a lot of perks, but seeing a little girl about to be zeroed brings back memories of his brother, Alec, who was also zeroed as a child, and sends him into a blind rage. He saves the little girl, for now, but at the expense of his best friend, who is chosen to be put outside the gates in her place. Charley vows then and there that he will fight the System, because he knows all life is valuable, regardless of what the System dictates. But should he fight the system from within or attack from the outside? And are they really the only people left after The Event, or is that just another lie perpetuated by the System? Set in the post-apocalyptic AE 12, author Joel Ohman explores what would happen if we were all assessed only by what we could contribute to society, and how we would make the decision that some are worth saving but ot...

Hook Up: A Novel of Fort Bragg by William P. Singley My rating: 3 of 5 stars Hook Up follows newly drafted recruits and a couple RAs as they start jump training in the 82nd Airborne Division in that nebulous time between the Korean and Vietnam “conflicts.” Their time training as paratroopers matures them all into men, but as it is in life it reveals the kind of men they are. Also as it in life, not all of the recruit’s outcomes are just or fair. In the late ‘50s the military was a different experience than the modern military - in some ways. In some ways it seems nothing has changed. I enjoy history, and Hook Up reveals aspects that we don’t often record. Everyone has heard of some of the heroism and sacrifice of war, but how that individual came to be able to make that sacrifice or what his training was is often glossed over, when in fact without that the heroism would have never been exhibited. I appreciate that author William P. Singlely showed some of the unsavory aspects of...

Khu: A Tale of Ancient Egypt by Jocelyn Murray My rating: 3 of 5 stars The story of Khu follows a boy with mysterious golden eyes as he helps his father, Pharoah Mentuhotep, fulfill the prophecy of Neferti unify upper and lower Egypt somewhere around 2020 B.C. The story is based on actual events of the rise of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, although Khu is a fictional character. The fictional part of the story introduces the orphan, Khu, as he is saved in Moses-like fashion by one of Mentuhotep’s wives, and becomes the adopted son of the Pharoah. His golden eyes reveal the sixth sense that he has always possessed and is utilized extensively by his father to rule well. The language used was very descriptive - almost to the point of flowery - and really helped the reader engage his/her senses of ancient Egypt. I loved the use of real history, even though the story was woven around fictional characters. I especially appreciated the historical information and pictures at the end that deta...

Baseball Dads by Matthew S. Hiley My rating: 4 of 5 stars I hate baseball. This is a very unpopular sentiment as I now live in a baseball town, with some of the best baseball fans on earth. I appreciate what it does for the local economy, and yes, haters, I understand the game. I just don’t find it enjoyable. This book, though, was right up my alley. For those of you diehards there is plenty of baseball, and for those of you into sarcasm noire Baseball Dads definitely is a love story. I will warn you, there is a lot of language, drugs and impossible porny sex, so don’t read it if you have a sensitive stomach. There is also a character who cannot text to save his life, for all you grammar nazis out there. But the basic gist of the story is one Dad, Dwayne, is tired of his talented son being overlooked on his baseball team because he refuses to play into the social politics that is apparently very common in Texas youth sports. Rather than kiss up to the coach, he arranges for him t...

Severed Threads by Kaylin McFarren My rating: 4 of 5 stars The first book in the Threads series, Severed Threads introduces us to unlucky Chase Cohen, a salvager who spends his time underwater treasure hunting, and Rachel Lyons, the daughter of a salvager who is determined not to rekindle a relationship with Chase, as she holds him responsible for her father’s untimely death. However, when Rachel is forced to help her brother get out of the clutches of criminals, she and Chase team up to find fabled treasure Heart of the Dragon, hidden somewhere in the wreck of the Wan Li, a legendary Chinese ghost ship, and a gamble as to whether it actually exists or not. In Severed Threads, author Kaylin McFarren does an excellent job of setting up a back story both of the fabled treasure ship and its supposed curse of Mae Li, the unrequited mistress of a sea captain, as well as the spark between Rachel and Chase. She weaves in many secondary characters well, but the focus of the story is cl...

The Gnostic Prophecy by Mike Vasich My rating: 4 of 5 stars One of the earliest Christian heresies, the Gnostics were convinced that they had a "spark" that others didn't. This made them special enough to be like Jesus, and tough luck if you didn't have the spark. The Gnostic Prophecy explores what that means for one Cerise Davenport, as she follows the trail of a colleague who ends up with a mysterious scroll that may just divulge exactly how right or wrong the Gnostics were. On the way she meets up with a mysterious little girl, an old flame struggling with the loss of his family, and a few naked superhuman teenagers determined to take her out. The Gnostic Prophecy is a quick and interesting read, and actually does a great job of explaining Gnosticism in a nutshell for those uninitiated. It does end up with some spiritual interplay at the end, including some pretty weird interaction with "God." If you are interested in early Christianity, particula...

Crescent’s finest homicide detective, Mike Erland, is called into Fircrest Manor to investigate the murder of a beautiful, unknown stranger who was an attendee at a Libertarian fundraiser. Imagine his surprise to come face to face with her later, or rather her twin sister, who happens to be a special agent for Homeland Security. What follows is a whirlwind investigation into both her twin’s murder and determination to solve the case she was working on, involving an international information dealer and huge security threat to the US. “Evening Wolves” is a Biblical reference (Hab 1:8-11) to those who are in it for the violence and don’t care who they hurt, they just sweep in and out and leave death in their wake. This story is full of such characters; they sweep in, kill and leave. Some get their justice in the end, but not until they have done as much damage as they can. This is a fast paced story with a lot of characters, but in the end you are rooting for Mike and Sierra to ca...

Pals: Women, & Grenades by J. Angelo Greco III My rating: 3 of 5 stars After reading this book I’m not sure that I’m hot enough to review it, but I’m sure the cocky surgeon main character, Joe, could fix me right up. So just pretend he already has for the purposes of this review. Self-assured rich boys who generally get what they want, entrepreneur David and plastic surgeon Joe, are BFFs and business partners who develop of the most exclusive nightclubs in the NYC. David takes care of details, and sends Joe to wine and dine the daughters of the investors in an effort to bilk capital out of them. Joe does not believe in true love, only bromance with his pal, David. Joe is only interested in the hottest of hotties, but gets in trouble when his current assignment, mob boss daughter, Alexis - who is a supermodel, and somehow also has red hair, green eyes and freckles despite her Sicilian origins - actually causes his heart to flutter as much as other body parts. It gets worse w...

Follow a young idealist, Bernie Green, through the intrigue, backstabbing, secret-keeping world of Pennsylvania Democratic politics as he starts out as an Iraq war vet working as a “Constituent Service Representative” to foul-mouthed Gov. Slattery as he is somehow talked into running for state representative by the Governor, who just knows he’d be perfect for the job. His life seems to be falling into place - he wins the race, marries the woman of his dreams and gets a posh job at a prestigious law firm (state rep is only a part time gig, you know.) However he has a penchant for making enemies quickly thanks to his refusal to compromise on certain issues, and he manages to make those enemies right off the bat, within 10 minutes of meeting powerful NRA lobbyist Bob Worthington. All of a sudden he is embroiled in a number of scandals, and his past, as well as his wife’s, is coming back to haunt him. He’s pretty sure Worthington is behind it, but can’t figure out how. This was a ...

Future Prometheus: Emergence & Evolution by J M Erickson My rating: 4 of 5 stars What happens when a disease wipes out most adult males’ higher level emotional function? Future Prometheus, by J.M. Erickson, explores one of the few men left capable of meaningful social interaction, ironically due to his position on the autistic spectrum. While men are driven out and women take over civilization, he is continues his experiments with stasis, eventually achieving success with some longer term. He is assisted by robots who are becoming increasingly sentient, and thus he is able to streamline his interactions while still trying to salvage some vestige of humanity. This sci-fi combines several classic elements, a disease that targets a sector of the population and runs rampant, robotics/cyborgs taking steps toward sapience, and an unlikely hero thrust in a position of savior because of an otherwise weakness. I like that autism is shown in a positive light given that the current rate...

The Maynwarings by Digger Cartwright My rating: 4 of 5 stars Intrigue, politics, and a good old-fashioned showdown in the Old West is what you will find in The Maynwarings, by Digger Cartwright. If you are a fan  of Westerns in general this has the gunslinging and the morals, as well as some interesting, if more modern, twists like the first female attorney in the country and anti-gambling legislation in Nevada. And unlike your white hat/black hat spaghetti westerns, the good guy isn’t always the winner. I was really impressed with the character development, and there was a full cast of characters. The book follows the Maynwaring family, the patriarch Barron and his wife Eleanor and their four grown children - Breckenridge, Mary Catherine, Houston and Stokes. He has the distinction of being the first US Senator from the newly formed state of Nevada, and is an influential and generally well liked businessman and landowner in Carson City. When a sneaky newcomer starts buying ...