Book reviews, giveaways, cover art and editing.
 
Temperature : Bitter Cold
Author: Adam Santo
Genre: Horror Science Fiction
TBR Reviewers: Shyla
Length: 240
Rating: 5 stars - A Must Read.

The second book in the Temperature series takes on a much darker, sinister tone. I was chilled to the bone, riveted and curious about where Mr. Santos was taking me. Our hero Bo is forced to team up with a witch named Zemra to find Sally, our heroine who's been kidnapped in the
last book; I hate to be a spoiler kind of gal but that's a need to know basis for this review. Mysteries and legends prevalent in society are explained with the wit and whimsy I've come to expect from Santos as Bosnic and his partner trek to find someone who can give them the locations of Sally. 

Our heroine, newly raised zombie, Sally is having one hell of a bad year! She's just trying to wrap her mind around what she's become, only to find she has powers none have seen in millennium, be threatened with death and finally kidnapped by a religious group of zombie haters. The torture she endures at the hands of top psycho Demric is enough to turn your stomach. But it forces her to explore just what being a necromancer means. If you have images of vile , half decomposes bodies rising from their grave you're dead on and you know just what makes this book so bad ass. One thing I really love about Sally is she's a save yourself kind of girl. ( The best kind in my opinion.) Bo is there to help her get out of tight spots but he's almost a last resort/mentor. 

I could on and on about the plot and its wicked twists but that would be ruining. Suffice to say I highly recommend this dazzling jewel. Santos has a way with descriptions and distorting the everyday knowledge we take at face value that makes you devour each page.

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Tower in the Woods by Tara Quan
Genre: Zombie, romance, post-apocalyptic, bdsm 
Length: Novella
TBR Reviewer: Brutally Honest
Rating: 4 stars – Recommended Read.
Heat: 4 handcuffs – An erotic Ride.


What a unique idea! At the end of the world, we have zombies! Along with a virgin sniper trapped in a tower, rope made out of zombie hair and some wicked rope bondage. Add that to witty one-lines and extremely well written characters – you have Tower in the woods by Tara Quan

At the beginning, there’s a scene in her POV and then the same scene in his POV. That
was the first hurtle with this book. It slowed down the entire pace and it was redundant. It hurt the book rather than helped. There was a puppy torture reference that I absolutely hated and I nearly put the book down for that single line. It was horribly disturbing and completely unnecessary. There’s also a major hop in the story. They have sex and then jump to a week later, which put a damper on the character’s connection. 

Still, after those issues the book comes together quite nicely. The characters were well written and the story itself a solid read. I’ve never read anything that blended a fairytale with zombies. It was a really good idea, the plot was well fleshed out and there were no annoying slow spots. The pace was constantly even. The sex was smoking hot with some bondage. I enjoyed it and would like to read more from this author.
 
Zombies plus fairytale story plus a talented writer equals a book you must read!

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The dying of the light: interval by  Jason Kristopher
Genre: Horror
Length: novel
Reviewer: Mark
Rating: 3 Stars: It was a good read.

Interval is the second of three books  set in the same universe where Zombies or “Walkers” have taken over the planet  forcing much of humanity to retreat to underground bunkers until such time as  they can repopulate the planet. Though they are the last vestiges of  mankind, the separate bunkers find it difficult to co-operate with each other  and get along despite being under constant attack and that’s without mentioning  the feelings of mass claustrophobia that begins developing amongst the  population of Bunker One. 
  
Meanwhile at McMurdo Base, deep in the heart  of Antarctica, one more group of humans struggles to survive in desperate and  dire conditions. There may not be any Walkers but they have their own separate  problems to deal with....
 
I really enjoyed the first book and the two  short stories I have read that accompany the series so had high hopes for this.  Unfortunately, I felt a little let down and disappointed by this second  installment which, although good, never quite matched the superiority of the 
first novel. This was for a number of reasons.
 
Firstly this book quickly becomes less about  the Zombies and more about the individual pockets of humanity as they struggle  to survive and work together towards a common goal. In fact, the Walkers barely  feature for large chunks of the novel other than in passing. Secondly, the main  plot of the novel jumps around a lot. Not just between McMurdo Base and Bunker 
One but also across vast stretches of time. Two years or more can have passed  between chapters and I found this, at times, a little disconcerting and thought  that it broke the story up quite a bit, meaning it didn’t flow as well as  it did in the first book.
 
It is an interesting take on survival and is a good read because it deals firmly with the practicalities of retreating to an  enclosed space underground for what could end up being decades and looks at the  various problems that could arise in just such a situation. But I just felt that  this time around the plot was slightly lacking when compared to the first  book!
 
Another thing I felt let this down was that  characters from the short story What Ever Happened To Tom Reynolds feature  heavily and if you have not read this, then many fans may feel a little lost as  to what exactly is going on. What Ever Happened To is supposed to represent a
“lost” chapter from the first book and is due to be included in an anthology of  stories to be released once this series is over but without reading it, I just  felt that many people wouldn’t have a clue  who some of these people were or their relevance to the plot! This I thought to 
be a major plot error.
  
Overall, this isn’t bad but don’t expect this  to be quite as gripping as the first book in the series. A big revelation towards the end almost feels like a bit of an excuse to string out 
the series to another book and though I am keen to read it to see how this all  ends, still now I feel a bit skeptical about whether it will reach the high  standards set by the first book! Like I say, I didn’t hate this ~ I just felt a  little let down.

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+Giveaway
Horror, Thriller - Novel
TBR Reviewer: Kim

Review

This is the story of a world set in the future. Water is seriously contaminated and food heavily genetically modified. An intrepid submarine crew are tasked to go on a search and rescue in an uncharted region. They are assigned five new crew members to help them in this task. There is hostility on both sides and neither crew trust each other. Soon it becomes obvious that the trip is doomed and everyone has their own hidden agenda....

 Set in a submarine that spends most of the novel underwater, the claustrophobia and paranoia were very evident and tangible. It was a zombie novel essentially but the zombie action didn't come in until very nearly the end. The first three quarters of the book were getting to know the characters and their various agendas. I loved the dynamics of the two crews open hostility towards each  other, until the end when they had no choice but work together towards a common goal. The action was slow paced to begin with but that was alright because it gave me time to sort out the characters and who was who before it then took off, and boy did it take off! The last quarter of the book was relentless and left me gasping at the explosive ending. I recommend this for zombie lovers and non lovers alike as the zombies are somewhat secondary to the rest of the story.

I really enjoyed Z Boat, this is a highly Recommended novel!

Excerpt

"Ivan made his way up the stairs, the blood loss slowing his progress greatly. Behind him, he could hear footsteps, though they didn’t sound rushed. He pushed on, the control room within his view. 
            
He heard a loud pop and then a splashing noise. Ally released the emergency seal. He needed to hurry. They needed to destroy this sub. Sinking it wasn’t enough. He pulled himself up a few more steps and made it to the landing. Marcus and Ally were talking. He yelled in an attempt to get their attention. “Marcus, Ally we need to sink Betty …” Ivan’s voice gave out, and he slumped against the wall.

He heard someone approaching him, and Ally came into his line of sight. She held a gun and
stared at him with hard eyes.
             
“You bit?”

“I don’t know, but it does not matter right now. You need to blow the sub. Sinking it will not be enough.”
             
“Where’s Iain?” Marcus stood behind her in a protective stance.

“I don’t know. I think, in all the chaos, they might have gotten him.”
   
Ivan watched as Ally stood up and wrapped her arms around Marcus. Part of him wanted to ask her to shoot him now, before he turned. He couldn’t do it, though. A miniscule part of him hoped he just had a bad injury and would make it out of this alive.

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Contest

Ms. Robb is giving away an ecopy to one lucky winner! Comment below to enter. Contest ends Feb. 5th.