Review Chasing the Star Garden by Melanie Karsak

Title: Chasing the Star Garden
Author: Melanie Karsak
Series: The Airship Racing Chronicles (1)
Genre: Steampunk
Publisher: Clockpunk Press
Release Date: Audio Book Sept 2014
Edition/Format Available In: Audio/eBook/Print
Rating:
Source: Author for Honest Opinion
Blurb/Synopsis:
An opium-addicted beauty.
An infamous poet living in self-imposed exile.
An ancient treasure about to fall into the wrong hands.
Melanie Karsak's Chasing the Star Garden takes readers on a thrilling adventure from the gritty opium dens of gaslamp London to the gem-colored waters of the ancient world. Lily Stargazer, a loveable but reckless airship racer with a famous lover and shattered past, reluctantly plunges into a centuries-old mystery in a romantic adventure best described as Dan Brown meets Mary Shelley.
It all begins on one of the worst days of Lily’s life. She just lost the London leg of the 1823 Airship Grand Prix. To top it off, a harlequin fleeing from constables shoved a kaleidoscope down her pants, told her to fly to Venice, then threw himself from her airship tower. What’s a girl to do? For Lily, the answer is easy: drink absinthe and smoke opium.
Lily’s lover, Lord Byron, encourages her to make the trip to Venice. Lily soon finds herself at the heart of an ancient mystery which has her running from her past and chasing true love and the stars along the way.

**Due to steamy scenes and depictions of drug use, this novel is intended for mature readers.**

Review The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott & Colette Freedman

Title: The Thirteen Hallows
Authors: Michael Scott & Colette Freedman
Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Tor/Macmillan Audio
Release Date:Dec 6 2011
Edition: Audio
Source: Macmillan Audio
Rating:

The Hallows. Ancient artifacts imbued with a primal and deadly power. But are they protectors of this world, or the keys to its destruction?

A gruesome murder in London reveals a sinister plot to uncover a two-thousand-year-old secret.

For decades, the Keepers guarded these Hallows, keeping them safe and hidden and apart from each other. But now the Keepers are being brutally murdered, their prizes stolen, the ancient objects bathed in their blood.

Now, only a few remain.

With her dying breath, one of the Keepers convinces Sarah Miller, a practical stranger, to deliver her Hallow—a broken sword with devastating powers—to her American nephew, Owen.


The duo quickly become suspects in a series of murders as they are chased by both the police and the sadistic Dark Man and his nubile mistress.

As Sarah and Owen search for the surviving Keepers, they unravel the deadly secret the Keepers were charged to protect. The mystery leads Sarah and Owen on a cat-and-mouse chase through England and Wales, and history itself, as they discover that the sword may be the only thing standing between the world… and a horror beyond imagining.

Do you believe in coincidence or fate?  

Can you tell what is real and what is a dream?  Or are they one in the same?

Are there other Realms or just the human realm that we live in?  And if there are other Realms, what kinds of Demons exist there and why are they interested in the human realm?

I was hooked right a way to "The Thirteen Hallows".  There are 9 cd's to tell the story, and I listened to the first 7 in one sitting on my way to Denver!  In my opinion this book has a little bit of everything that makes and interesting story...Murder, mystery, history, realism, conflict, fighting and yes even some sex...

The first chapter had me begging for more.  I thought I was getting to know one of the main characters....and Bam! There are two murders right away....and it never stops...I enjoyed how the story was told getting up to the climax, and how the history of the Thirteen Hallows was explained.  I think Michael Scott and Colette Freedman did a wonderful job at mixing myths and history in the story, and tying up all the loose ends, but also leaving the story open for Owen and Sarah to have some great stories to come.

I would definitely recommend "The Thirteen Hallows" to anyone who enjoys a great and exciting story! 

Places to find The Thirteen Hallows

Amazon

Barnes and Nobles

Books A Million (BAM)

The Book Depository 

Goodreads Please Add Me To Your TBR Pile

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