Action and Adventure
Action and adventure books constantly have you on the edge of your seat with excitement, as your fave main character repeatedly finds themselves in high stakes situations. The protagonist has an ultimate goal to achieve and is always put in risky, often dangerous situations.
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Book Review: Within Wheels
Within Wheels: Volume I by J.M. Sattler My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s been a while since I read a steampunk novel that felt like a return to the exciting, early days…
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Book Review: The 4midables: How They Came to Be
When a former writer for the Inspector Gadget television series decides to write a novel, you can bet it's going to be full of gadgetry, right?
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Book Review: Midnight Blue-Light Special
What a ride! (Or should I say, what a run across the rooftops?) I loved InCryptid #1, Discount Armageddon, so I cracked into Midnight Blue-Light Special with high hopes.
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Book Review: Beetle Shiny, Beetle Blue
I've been reading Steampunk novels ever since the genre arrived. Over the years, steampunk authors have had a tendency to evolve towards writing in a hybrid genre - such as mysteries with a…
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Book Review: The Games We’ve Played
Having moved around a lot in my life, I’m familiar with the wistful feeling that can hit as one carries their last box out of a familiar home.
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Book Review: Dexter & Sinister: Detecting Agents
Fun True Fact: When looking at a coat of arms, the right side is the Dexter, and the left side is the Sinister. The Dexter side is considered to be more honorable than…
- Action and Adventure, Book Reviews, Coming of Age, Dystopian, Historical Fiction, Realist Fiction, Suspense and Thriller
Book Review: Strawberry Fields
Strawberry Fields by Patrick D. Joyce My rating: 5 of 5 stars In 1968, I was a bookwormish fourteen-year-old whose biggest worry was finishing my math homework. In those insular, pre-internet times in…
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Book Review: Starter Villain
I dove straight into Starter Villain just after closing the third book in John Scalzi's "The Dispatcher" series. It wasn't too much of a jolt, as the author's voice is so strong in…
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Book Review: Travel by Bullet (The Dispatcher #3)
While Scalzi always does a great job of coming up with something really unusual for his characters to grapple with, he really outdid himself this time.
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Book Review: Discount Armageddon
The first book in the InCryptid series is also my first introduction to Seanan McGuire, and it's certainly not going to be the last book of hers I read. In fact, I can…
- Action and Adventure, Book Reviews, Coming of Age, Fantasy, Magical Realm, Middle Grade, Suspense and Thriller
Book Review: Vera Warden and the Two-Faced Demon
It’s always fun when I’m drawn into a book by its cover… and then find out that the story not only lives up to that cover, but exceeds my expectations. Author J. Rose’s Vera…
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Book Review: From Here to Timbuktu
I love a good treasure romp - and I love steampunk - and I love high adventure in far off exotic lands. So naturally, I eagerly dove into this 'steamfunk' story.
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Book Review: Nunslinger Book Three: A Pilgrim and a Stranger
Episode three keeps the tension high and the situation dismal. Abe and Sister Josephine are battling their toughest enemy yet - winter in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But at least they have a…
- Action and Adventure, Book Reviews, Coming of Age, Detective and Mystery, Dystopian, Historical Fiction, Realist Fiction, Suspense and Thriller, Young Adult
Book Review: Back in the USSR
The back-cover synopsis had me lunging for this book, which I easily read in just a couple of evenings. It's quite the page-turner! Now, I'm not going to write a book report describing…
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Book Review: Adventures of Jake the Snake V.I.P.E.R.
Jake is a snake, to be sure, but he's also a massssster words ssssmith who knows how to entertain kids while ssssneakily (ssssnakily?) increasing their vocabulary as well as knowledge of the world…
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Book Review: Advanced Triggernometry
Full disclosure/confession: I failed Algebra in high school. From 1st grade right on up through high school, I struggled to hang onto a barely-passing D in anything pertaining to math of any sort.…
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Book Review: The Emperor’s Aeronaut
As a long-time reader of Shelley Adina's Victorian era steampunk adventures, I'll admit I was a bit hesitant to step into the Regency era with her. I was also unfamiliar with R.E. Scott's…
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Book Review: Triggernometry
The clever title word caught my attention, and the teaser blurb had me lunging for the 'buy' button. But as a lifelong Mathophobic, I wondered if I'd be able to really get into…
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Book Review: Deuces are Wild (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 6)
If you've been following along since book one, The Hands We’re Given, by now you've probably come to think of Base 1407's Wild Cards team as friends, or perhaps they've become your fictional…
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Book Review: Arko: The Dark Union
While scientists in Mexico work on Mayan ruins research , their offspring are off discovering—and playing around with—ancient alien technology.
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Book Review: Ready Player Two
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline My rating: 3 of 5 stars I loved Ready Player One. It hit all the marks for me, so of course—like most fans—I had high expectations for…
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Book Review: Draw Out (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 5.5)
Fans of the "Aces High, Jokers Wild" series have asked to hear Janice’s story many times. In this novella, her early life is finally revealed.
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Book Review: Lemon Drop Falls
Twelve-year-old Morgan's mom, a professional life-coach and creator of a life planning system, has unexpectedly died. Her last words to her oldest daughter were, "Keep them safe, Morgan. Be brave for them. Help…
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Book Review: Cyrus LongBones and the Curse of the Sea Zombie
Loads of thrilling adventure, violent fights, and fantastical worldbuilding excitement for teenagers. I have a few issues with this one, though.
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Book Review: Draw Dead (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 5)
What unfolds is a story that—as sensationalist media might say—is ripped from today’s headlines.
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Book Review: Samuel Sloan P.I. Suspicions and Returns
Michael Staub has just published the second book in his Samuel Sloan P.I. series. These stories combines cyberpunk with classic noir gumshoe adventures. Take a spin around a retro-future Los Angeles with Sam…
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Book Review: Old Man’s War
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi My rating: 5 of 5 stars I used to read a lot more science fiction than I do these days. I keep nudging book recommendations aside, telling…
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Book Review: The Timble Family Curse
The Timble Family Curse by Laury Falter My rating: 5 of 5 stars Timothy Timble is having a lousy childhood. Orphaned as a babe, he’s being raised by mean Storka Ickle in a…
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Book Review: Starfish and Coffee: The SparkleTits Chronicles
Starfish and Coffee by Veronica R. Calisto My rating: 4 of 5 stars Bra-vo! SparkleTits is my kinda superhero. Or, maybe she’s not a superhero, but, she probably is. This uncertainty is part…
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Book Review: The Engineer Wore Venetian Red
If you're looking for a summer read, this is it! The 4th installment in the Mysterious Devices series is a doozy.
