Book Review: "Angel's Creed" by Paul Sating

 

Making enemies is easy. Stopping them from killing you is the challenge.

I’m more than just a Grim Reaper, assassin, and demon hunter. I’m also the target of subterfuge.

With plenty of enemies already, by assassinating the Nephilim who stole the First Bowl of Wrath, I’ve now made a powerful one. But I’m not done. The Nephilim are holding their cards close. Protecting someone. Who? Why? What’s everyone hiding?

The First Bowl released a worldwide plague. Nephilim, disguised as monsters straight out of lore and urban legend, terrorize mortals. And now, I’ve got a bigger problem—literally.

Something is wrong in Heaven’s higher echelons. No one knows why God released His newest version of the behemoth. Yeah, that one. Straight out of the good old book.

Armed with nothing more than my Angelfire magic, trusty .327 Ruger, and charming freaking personality, my next job is to take down the overgrown lizard before it stomps around the world like Godzilla going through a bad detox. In the past, this job required teams of angels. This time, it’s just me.

I’ve got an ex I need to mend fences with while also going rogue to uncover who’s tampering with Yahweh’s plague machine before it’s too late for seven billion mortals.

I’ll have to fight like hell to uncover my enemies’ secrets before they put me on the wrong side of death. - from Booksirens.com

This eARC was given to me from Booksirens.com and I am providing an unbiased review.

This is the second book in the Rev Carter series, and I am glad to see it continue on! The story takes off pretty much from the first novel, so it would not read well as a stand-alone novel. Rev Carter has learned much more in this installment, being able to delegate some of his duties as Prime Reaper, which frees up more time to search for the behemoth that is loose in Pacific NW, and try to find out who released it.

I liked how the story flowed, and have enjoyed Rev's character building from the start. His personality is one I could get along with. There is some more relationship building between he and his 'partner', as some of the dialogue in this book helps explain part of Rev's past, and duties of his partner. We also learn more of Rev's ex-wife, whom also makes an appearance in the story.

Overall, I am enjoying this series, and look forward to hopefully a few more books, rather than tying it all off in a small trilogy. The writing was done where one could easily lose their self into the story, and quickly read through it.

Book Review: "The Copper Man" by Debra Castaneda

 

Some grudges never die.

“The horrible figure from the Prestwich Tunnel hovered there. Not a ghost. Something between a badly disfigured man and a monster. There was a limit to what the human mind could comprehend, and the ghastly thing standing before her was beyond that limit.”

In 1985, the Copper Man killed Leah Shaw’s twin brother, Liam, in the mining town of Tribulation Gulch. Three decades later, Leah is an environmental reporter back in her Wyoming hometown, covering the reopening of the copper mine.

But when people literally drop dead around her, Leah can’t believe it’s the work of the Copper Man. After all, he’s dead… right?

Except Leah can’t stop seeing shadows, and creepy copper nuggets are showing up everywhere. Workers say the mine is haunted, and the words “I CURSE THIS PLACE” are appearing all over the mine—the very words the Copper Man scrawled on a bridge before jumping to his death.

Has the Copper Man come back for Leah, aiming to finish what he started 35 years ago? Is Leah’s young daughter in danger? And what other secrets are waiting for her among the dusty hills of Tribulation Gulch? - from Booksirens.com

This eARC was provided to me from Booksirens.com in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is the third book I have been able to read by this author, and I have really enjoyed them all. Castaneda does a wonderful job telling a story based on local urban legends/lore, that are borderline horror stories. 

I am not sure where to go with this review. There is a slow story start as the author has to reveal our characters, their purpose, and what the actual "lore" that is going on. Within pages I am interested as things just start to happen almost immediately. I don't want to reveal too much.... There is an old flame that has 'come home' and our MC hooks up. Family issues come to head, and end up in a nice way by the end of the story. There are references to mining industrialization and procedures that I did not know/understand, but was able to figure out the good/bad based on content. I am guessing the author did a good job on the background of that information.

Overall I enjoyed the book immensely and am always looking forward to more of these types of stories from this author.

Book Review: "Leave No Trace" by M J White

A revenge fifteen years in the making...

Ewan Stokes disappeared after a football match in Ipswich 15 years ago. No one knows where he went – or why – but every year on the anniversary of his disappearance, random mysterious sightings are reported across Europe. Since Ewan vanished, a fanatical online following has grown up around the mystery. The cult believes Stokesy is coming back. And he wants payback.

When police are alerted to CCTV images of a man holding a sign that reads ‘Help Me’, followed by acts of violence that seem to be linked to the mystery surrounding Ewan Stokes, they fear that the online hysteria has ramped up at the prospect of Stokesy’s return – a pressure that mounts when Maisie, Ewan’s ex-girlfriend at the time of his disappearance, finds herself targeted by a series of sinister attacks.

As tension grows, psychologist Dr Cora Lael, working with DS Rob Minshull and the South Suffolk CID, is called upon to use her special intuition to help the police protect Maisie. But as the anniversary grows nearer and the attacks widen out to target more people in Ewan’s life, can they stop Stokesy in his tracks… before he wreaks his revenge?

A twisty, addictive crime thriller with an extraordinary lead character. Fans of Mari Hannah and LJ Ross won’t be able to put this down. - from Netgalley.com

I received this eARC from Netgalley.com in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is the third book in the series of Dr. Cora Lael, and is able to read well as a stand-alone novel. It is set in the United Kingdom and Europe, so the world building was not familiar to me, yet the author was able to describe enough detail I could picture the events taking place. The plot of this thriller was a bit twisted, which helped keep my interest in the story. There is some relationship building/development going on as well that added some emotional issues to the story line. Overall I enjoyed the story, and will be looking up the two prior novels from this author.