Author Spotlight: Darcy Town!

Author Spotlight: Darcy Town!
Hello all, Alicia Rasley here, and I wanted to take a moment to welcome our newest Author to the Spotlight: Darcy Town!


We are very excited to have Darcy spending some time with us. Please make sure to stop by the Author Spotlight page (you can find it at the top of the page, or just click Darcy's picture to the right) to find information about her and her book. In the meantime, check out her books (covers below) and leave a comment saying hi and letting us know you stopped by!

'Run' by Blake Crouch

Reviewed by : Lindsey

5 D A Y S A G O

A rash of bizarre murders swept the country…

Senseless. Brutal. Seemingly unconnected.

A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike.

A mass of school shootings.

Prison riots of unprecedented brutality.

Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state.
4 D A Y S A G O

The murders increased ten-fold…
3 D A Y S A G O

The President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace…

2 D A Y S A G O

The killers began to mobilize…
Y E S T E R D A Y

All the power went out…
T O N I G H T

They’re reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System.

You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they’ve just read yours.

Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son.

You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family.

You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that any more.

You only have time to….

R U N
(amazon description)

I have had this on my kindle for months. I am a severe cult member of J.A. Konrath's Jack Daniels series. Mr. Crouch has occasionally joined in on this series.
In fact, my favorite books in the series are the Konrath/Crouch books.

I notice that these these books tend to be slightly scarier. I am a closeted pansy. I admit it. Vampires, zombies, ghosts and ghouls, bring 'em. Serial murderers?
Stay behind the yellow line...preferably behind bars in a far away country.

If you are a reader of class and refinement such as I, you would know how terrifying Crouch's
Andrew Z. Thomas/Luther Kite character is..

This book was recommended to me by Steven Konkoly , author of The Jarkarta Pandemic. Loved his book so I gave it a whirl.

On Monday night, I started the book.  At 1:30am I forced myself to put it down.  I had to get up at 5 AM. After snapping at anything with a pulse due to lack of sleep, I continued to  read through breakfast, bus stop and lunch. I was glued.

Something has occurred to cause folks to become killing machines--looting, killing and all kinds of terror. I want to just spill out what happened...but I CAN'T.  The story follows a family who is running for their lives, literally.

For the squeamish--well, it's bad. It is. Honestly, I probably fell asleep around 2am as I lay in bed wondering what every noise was.

Here is where Crouch redeems himself and keeps wimps like me going. This family is fairly normal .They are not superheros. Dad isn't John McClane from Die Hard.  I was uncomfortable reading scenes where the family has gone without food  for 5 days. When the kids are crying from being cold and tired it is brutal. 
This book is written in such a way you feel as though you are there.

When bad guys show up it is a adrenaline rush. When the family is separated it is brutal. The constant unknown is terrifying. There were a couple times I had to put kindle down  and get a breather. It's that unsettling.

To those who are convinced only a sparkly vampire can give you an adrenaline rush, then I don't ask, I demand,  put it down and read this.
Right now.

I could go on but I am convinced I would ruin this for all. This is a book that I will definitely stay with me for a while.

Definite 5 stars on this one..

'The Scorpio Races' by Maggie Stiefvater

Reviewer: Izzy

5 stars



I shall start off by saying that, though I may be biased (once I decide to like an author, I generally “like” all of their things whether I literally do or not) The Scorpio Races is freaking amazing. I bought it for my Kindle and have reread it six times. And I doubt that's going to stop me from reading it again.

I love the storyline, I love the character development, the development of the relationships between the different characters, I even love the way the characters speak. Obsessive? Perhaps. Undue? Not even close.

Okay, okay, I know. Izzy, what's it ABOUT? Water horses (they're called something else in the book, but I don't want to misspell it). And racing. And a boy named Sean Kendrick and a girl named Puck Connolly. I don't want to give away too much, but here's what I can give you: Sean Kendrick is a four time winner of the Scorpio Races, and he rides Corr, a red water horse. Puck Connolly needs money fast (what better way than to win first prize in a death match?), and so she enters the races. On a normal island pony. And she's the first woman to enter the Races.

So the local boys are not happy about that one, except Mr. Kendrick, who makes a point of saying that if they try to take her out of the races, he'll be right there fighting with her.

Puck isn't a girlie girl, but she does have her moments of girlness, if that makes sense. There's no, “Oh, I got mud on my boots!” but there's a couple, “Well, he's cute and I'm in my muddy pants, crap.” And that's not so bad, considering.

Sean is an interesting character. I liked him a lot—unfortunately, I preferred being in his mind more than I liked being in Puck's, only because of the way he saw things, and the way he described things. I loved how much he loves Corr and how, after awhile, he started to have faith in Puck, which you can understand even without him flat out saying, “I think that Puck is going to have a chance to win the races and that's great and yet not so great at the same time”.

So, to sum it up: love the author, love the characters, love the storyline, love even the background characters. I highly recommend this book (and have already convinced a few of my friends to buy it). If you don't love it right away, read it again!!

'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' by Seth -Grahame-Smith

Reviewer: Jesi 

3 Stars

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

On a recent trip to the theatre, I caught the new trailer for the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter movie.  It looks amazing!  So knowing that the book is usually better than the movie, I thought I’d check it out. 

Readers of my reviews know I love vampires almost as much as I love history.  This was a mash-up made for me!  And I did like it...I just didn’t love it. 

I think what I liked best about AL:VH was the mixture of fact and fiction.  You could tell the author was passionate about his subject matter, because the research that had gone into this project alone was impressive.  Weaving the vampire stories into the slave trade was genius.  I also learned some things about President Lincoln that I didn’t know.  (Did you know Mary Todd Lincoln had mental problems?  I should read up on the First Ladies sometime.) 

The action was also really good.  Abe wielding his big axe and chopping the heads off of vamps is just too cool! 

My favorite character in the book was Henry Sturges, Abe’s vampire mentor.  In fact, I wish there had been more of Henry in the book.  He was a vampire who led the hunting of other vampires.  We learn why eventually, but the mystery of him was compelling.  I wish the author would write a sequel with him as the main character. 

So if I liked history and the action and Henry, why am I left lukewarm?  For me, books are about forming an emotional connection with the characters.  I love it when my heart races along with theirs--when I experience the terror/elation/heartbreak/love the character feels as if it is happening to me.  While I found this book incredibly interesting, I failed to connect emotionally with the characters.  It was like I was almost there--poised right on the brink--but never actually fell over the edge.  I’ve always thought the photos of President Lincoln make him look wooden.  The character of Abe in this books kind of came across the same way.  A couple of times, I almost put the book down, but the concept and the history ended up pulling me through. 

Overall, I give Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter...

Plot - 3 bookmarks

Character Development - 2 bookmarks

Historic Elements - 5 bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Eric Bana (Abraham Lincoln), Henry Cavil (Henry Sturges)

'Someone Else's Fairytale' by Emily Mah Tippetts

Reviewer: Stephanie

5 stars!

Summary from Amazon:

Jason Vanderholt is Hollywood’s hottest actor. Chloe Winters hasn’t bothered to see most of his movies. When they meet by chance, he is smitten and Chloe becomes the woman every other woman in America is dying to be, but it just isn’t her fairytale.



It’s the end of May, school is almost out and you’re dying for summer vacation. This book needs to be at the top of your list of summer reads!


First I must say that what impressed me most about this book is the author’s ability to get me to cross genres. I am not a chick lit fan. I’ve tried to read many books in that genre – actually was able to finish a few, but never really left the book satisfied. But when I picked up “Someone Else’s Fairytale” I was hooked from page one.


Chloe Winters has a chance meeting with big star Jason Vanderholt when she and her friends are extras in a movie being shot at their college the University of New Mexico. While her friends are star struck, Chloe is indifferent, even though Jason makes a point to talk to her. Chloe has much more important things on her mind, like finishing college and getting into grad school, so she is surprised when Jason tracks her down and wants to be friends. She reluctantly agrees and makes it clear up front that friendship is all she’s interested in. But Chloe didn’t count on her feelings for Jason changing the longer she knows him. She thinks she knows what she wants but meeting Jason opens her eyes to a new world of possibilities. The relationship that follows is sweet and romantic.


At first glance I wondered if the plot seemed a bit cliché, but Emily made it work because her characters had depth. Chloe and Jason both surprised me. I wondered if Chloe could really come across as uninterested in this big movie star. She did because she truly was just that…uninterested. Plus the back story of a tragedy that happened to her when she was young really rounded out her character and gave her a strength that I admired and respected. When she does realize her feelings for Jason, her reactions, insecurities and fears are well-written and believable. I found myself liking her more and more as the book progressed.


Jason was definitely a lot nicer than I ever imagined a Hollywood star to be. However, he wasn’t perfect. He had made mistakes and his past was a hurdle that he and Chloe had to get over. He was very real, and his pursuit of Chloe was equal parts sweet and funny. His gestures didn’t always get him the desired outcome, but I loved watching them work on their relationship throughout the course of the book.
Chloe’s friends and Jason’s family rounded out the cast of characters, and I loved how both Chloe and Jason leaned on them for support.


This book really surprised me in a good way. I enjoyed it much more than I would have imagined and I can’t recommend it highly enough!

A Gutsy Heroine Takes on a Town of Book Banners

A Guest Blog by Sherry Roberts
My novel, Book of Mercy, is the story of a woman who cannot read and yet finds the courage to stand up to the book banners in her town. It was a finalist in the 2011 Midwest Book Awards.

I love stories of ordinary people who rise up to meet extraordinary circumstances. My lead character, Antigone Brown, is pregnant with her first child and fears she will be an awful mother because of her dyslexia. Books have brought nothing but misery to her life, yet she tries to save them when the Mercy Study Club begins removing “undesirable” literature from the school library.

I became fascinated with the censorship issue when my daughter was in high school and came home crying one day because “they were banning books.” At the time, we were living in North Carolina, where Book of Mercy is set. The school had removed The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes from the shelves because a parent objected to its explicit love scenes between a young Mexican revolutionary and an American teacher. Fuentes is recognized as one of the most influential writers in Latin America. In fact, in 2006, he received the Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech and Expression. Ironic, I know.

After an intense public meeting and a review by committee, The Old Gringo eventually was returned to the library. Our community was lucky, but such incidents are not uncommon. According to the American Library Association, on average about five hundred books are challenged every year in the United States—and those are just the ones we know about.

While censorship is a serious issue, Book of Mercy tackles the subject with a sense of humor. Antigone gets into a pie fight with Irene Crump, the leader of the study club and a woman who likes to sneak into the local bookstore and hide holy cards in the New Age books.

I wanted Book of Mercy to be a fun read that also might start you thinking. After all, eventually every parent has to choose whether or not to be a censor. We have to decide what we will permit our children to read. As Antigone says in Book of Mercy, “I want to protect my child from the world. But I also want to protect the world for my child.”

I hope you get a chance to meet Antigone Brown and the other folks in fictitious Mercy, North Carolina. Stop in for a milkshake at Antigone’s restaurant, the O. Henry Cafe, and tell her it’s on me.

Note: If you’re interested in censorship issues, visit my blog at http://www.sherry-roberts.com where I have written several posts on the topic.

Author Spotlight: Sherry Roberts!

Author Spotlight: Sherry Roberts!
Hello all, Alicia Rasley here, and I wanted to take a moment to welcome our newest Author to the Spotlight: Sherry Roberts!


We are very excited to have Sherry spending some time with us. Please make sure to stop by the Author Spotlight page (you can find it at the top of the page, or just click Sherry's picture to the right) to find information about her and her book. In the meantime, check out her book (cover below) and leave a comment saying hi and letting us know you stopped by!