Review: Spiritus by Dana Michelle Burnett

“When Becca moves into her ancestral home in Corydon, Indiana, her life takes a puzzling and thrilling turn when she meets the ghost haunting the halls. As the seductive spirit lures her closer and closer, she learns about her own past and starts to understand that some mistakes are meant to last.
Becca McAllister has always been different from other girls her age. Never part of the "in crowd", Becca never really fit in anywhere. When her mother dies and her father moves them to the small town of Corydon, Indiana, Becca didn't expect things to change.
But things do change when Becca accidentally makes contact with a one hundred and sixty year old ghost, Alastor Sinclair, that haunts the halls of her new home.
To Becca, Alastor is a seductive spirit that seems to see straight into her soul. To Alastor, Becca is what he has waited a century for--A second chance.
But the closer they get, the more Becca realizes that this isn't the first time she and Alastor have known each other. Worse still, is she the one responsible for his death so long ago? And if so, did he come back for love or revenge?”

How would you react if you had a ghost haunting you? What would you do if there was someone invading your dreams and thoughts, and you were the only one who could see them? That’s what Becca is faced with in Dana Michelle Burnett’s novel, Spiritus. In this first book of the Spiritus series, Becca McAllister meets a rather charming ghost after she and her new-found friends host a séance in her new home. At first, she’s a bit frightened when the ghost, Alastor Sinclair appears to her. But she slowly begins to fall in love with him, even as it seems her life as a normal, high school girl begins to fall apart. Spiritus is a book that is romantic, captivating, and a little chill-inducing. It will leave you wishing for the next book in the series. Who knows? It may even leave you believing ghosts just a little bit, too. 

I rate this book: 

I literally could not put this book down. And once I was done, I was immediately searching for the next book in the series, which isn’t out yet, sadly. I love how the author shapes the ending in such a way that it leaves you craving more. I also really enjoyed the fact that Becca, the main character, was completely believable. I felt like I could really connect with her while I was reading because she wasn’t the prettiest or most popular girl in the novel; she was just a normal, seventeen year old girl, trying to survive high school. Granted, getting through high school is hard enough as it is. But can you imagine adding in the extra stress of being in love with a ghost? So, while Becca is a very believable and relatable character for the reader, she is also incredibly remarkable because of what she has to – and does – overcome in the book. If you like romantic and haunting novels with characters and a plot that completely draws you in, then I would definitely recommend that you pick up Spiritus. You won’t be disappointed. 

Spiritus is the first novel in Dana Michelle Burnett’s new paranormal romance series by the same name. The second book, Haunted, is expected in the spring of 2012.

Dana Michelle Burnett was born and raised in beautiful Southern Indiana. She spent most of her life writing short stories and sharing them with family and friends. Over the years, her work was published in numerous commercial and literary magazines, including Just Labs, Mindprints: A Literary Journal, Foliate Oak, and many more.  Her short story John Lennon and the Chicken Holocaust was included in The Best of Foliate Oak 2006.  Burnett still lives in Southern Indiana. She continues to manage NanasAtticStore.com and works on her writing every day. Her site, DanaMichelleBurnett.com has more information about upcoming projects and appearances, or you can also check her out on Facebook. 
 

Feature Friday: Larry Peterson

Today we welcome Larry Peterson on The Ink Puddle with Tribute Book Tours. Larry is the author of the book The Priest and the Peaches. This is a book that deals with a lot of loss and struggle and knowing that, we asked him to write about a personal experience of his own in which writing has helped him through.

"Historical fiction novel set in the Bronx in the mid-1960s

Take a seven day journey with the five, newly orphaned Peach kids, as they begin their struggle to remain a family while planning their dad's funeral.

They find an ally in the local parish priest, Father Tim Sullivan, who tries his best to guide them through the strange, unchartered and turbulent waters of "grown-up world." A story that is sad, funny, and inspiring as it shows how the power of family love and faith can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles."

Since "The Priest and The Peaches" deals with "struggle & loss" you have asked me to post something about my own experience working through "pain" and how books and writing have helped me push through. Well now, you have truly challenged me. In fact, many of the requests from book reviewers such as you are forcing me to look inside myself and, I must admit, that many of  the memories that have been stuffed into the far recesses of my mind have been resurrected and it is sometimes unnerving for me when they start suddenly and unexpectedly begin reappearing. (Man, I feel like I'm writing in a journal here and maybe it is a good thing--not sure). Understand this---writing and books have come after the fact.

I was 15 when my mother died. Strangely, I could hardly remember a thing about her. The sound of her voice, what she liked to eat, her favorite color, favorite actor, etc. The only thing I remembered was  that she loved the "I Love Lucy" show. That was it. Even writing the book did not jar the memories loose. What has freed some memories from their dark cave has been posts like this one. They have forced me to think about what has been. This is a place I rarely go. I mean, I do know that this place exists but I avoid it. Sometimes I think that sub-consciously I have done this as an act of self-preservation. I'm not sure. We are all so uniquely different yet we are all so similar. Fascinating--

I have personally experienced the death of my folks when I and my siblings were quite young. I have lived through the death of my daughter at birth, the death of my first wife from cancer, the death of my kid brother and the death of my best friend. My second wife is recovering from chemo treatments and her cancer is in remission. I have had major surgery for prostate cancer and, after almost five years, I am cancer free. I also have MS which, for five years, left me almost unable to walk. That was 25 years ago and today I am doing great and walk around just like most folks. How all of this affects my writing, I have no idea. I guess it must and maybe someday I'll figure it all out.

Here's the thing and I know you guys are a lot younger than I so, take some advice from an "old guy". The key to overcoming adversity, first and foremost, is having faith in God. Now, I know a lot of folks think that is "gobbley-gook". But many know I am right. Faith is that great intangible. You can't see it or touch it or smell it. But, it is the greatest of all gifts and all one has to do is ask God to walk with them. He'll DO IT! Once you do that you have laid the very foundation to build an inner peace that will transport you through any adversity you may encounter. Then--write your little heart out.

Thank you so much Larry for stopping by! I really did enjoy your post and you being here! If you want to know more about Larry here are the links to his...

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Wondering on Wednesday: Magazines on E-Readers

[This post is for those of you with the Kindle Fire, Nook Color or Nook Tablet. Unfortunately, the e-readers that don't work as mini tablets don't have this feature.]

So you have that new Kindle Fire for Christmas and you're all excited because you can now get all of those magazines your subscribed to onto your Kindle to take anywhere you want to go! But wait, as you're looking through you're noticing two types of magazines: your subscripions and the apps. Now you're all confused. What's the difference? How does it work? Do I even want to bother? Well today I'm going to answer your questions concerning magazines.

There found there are 2 types, the first one being the ones you subscribe to. These will show up just like the magazines you buy in the store. I’m subscribed to a couple of food magazines and Rachael Ray and I really enjoy reading them from my Kindle. The second type is the kind that you purchase through an app.

Say you find an app that is the name of a magazine, like Shape and Glamour (just ones I’ve seen off the top of my head- I’ve seen others), Amazon has it for free. You download it, bring up the app on your Kindle and it will ask you to subscribe to this magazine through the website. So you pay through the website instead of through Amazon. The super cool thing about these, is that, for example: it’s a fitness app. And it’s telling you about ab exercises you can do, well it will show you a picture and have words describing what to do like your typical magazine would, but when you clicked on this picture, it would actually show you a video of how to do the exercise. Normal magazines won’t do this, just the ones you go through the app for.

Meg has these and LOVES them. She's a huge magazine reader too, but to see how to do what the magazine is talking about brings this technology to a whole new level! I know I talked mostly about Amazon but it works the same way for Barnes and Noble. What has been your experience with magazines through your Kindle or Nook? Which ones do you follow?

Review: Happy Birthday to You by Brian Rowe

"Newlyweds Cameron and Liesel Martin aren't able to celebrate their wedding bliss for long. Not only is Liesel unexpectedly pregnant... they're also facing the end of humanity!
Liesel's evil witch sister Hannah has cast a spell to make all humans on Earth age a whole year with every day. It's up to Cameron and Liesel to stop her... and save the world! Who will survive? And who will perish?
Here it is at last... the third and final epic chapter of the Birthday trilogy... Happy Birthday to You!"

Happy Birthday to You picks up where Happy Birthday to Me Again leaves off, the day after all chaos begins.  Cameron Martin just can’t catch a break.  He forced to age each day at the end of his senior year only to find that the girl of his dreams is the one that did it to him.  Then, he’s forced to go backwards, a year younger, each day until he’s a little baby.  Now, he’ll have to grow old within a three month period all over again, only this time he’ll have to watch everyone he cares about do so too.  That is, unless him and Liesel can kill her evil witch sister, Hannah, who casted the ageing spell on the entire planet.  Only now, Liesel is without her magic powers and with child, which really throws a wrench into things.  Happy Birthday to You is a dramatic, sometimes comical, fantasy that will leave you flying through the pages to the epic ending.

I Rate This Book:

Something that I not only love about this book, but about the entire series was that it’s a light read.  It’s truly a book that you can set down and enjoy and really get the whole package from.  Most books just have a few aspects, such as drama, action, love, comedy, etc.  But Happy Birthday to You really has a little of everything.  While no, it’s not a funny story, Cameron’s reactions and wording seem to always have a hint of funniness, for lack of better wording at the moment, to them.  It’s not necessarily The Fast and the Furious, but there is a some action to thrown in there as well.  There’s also Cameron’s love for his family and Liesel that never disappears throughout the story.  

I also love how much Cameron grows from the first book to the last.  In the first one he is that popular high school guy that we all loved to hate because although, yes physically, he was perfection, he was an arrogant jerk.  But through all of his aging dilemmas he really grows as a person and appreciates all the people that are in his life and would ultimately do anything for them.  In the last book you get to see him as a husband, although still young, and a hero.  I would give you the ultimate example but it would be a spoiler ;]

Brian Rowe studied English and Film at Loyola Marymount University.  His work has appeared in The Absent Willow Review, Mobius Magazine, and Wild Oat Magazine.  He likes works such as Fahrenheit 451 (no judgment).  He now lives in Cameron’s very own home town of Reno, Nevada.   To learn more about Brian, visit his Facebook.

Happy Birthday Meg!

Today is the day! Meg's 21st birthday! :)

So if you have a minute or so, wish her a fantastic birthday!

Guest Post: Pavarti K. Tyler

Today we have Pavarti K Tyler joining us for a guest post talking about the war going on between the Sualwets and Erdlanders in her book, Two Moons of Sera. If you haven't read this book yet, you're missing out. So right after you're done reading this awesome blog and taking the stellar quiz below, jump over and grab this book! You will not be disappointed.

Also, I want to thank Pavarti for taking time out of her busy schedule to write up this post, you're awesome, your book was great and I can't wait to read volume 3! Thank you so much!






War – What’s it Really Good For? – by Pavarti K Tyler

Conflict is at the heart of every good story. A love triangle, a misunderstanding, an argument, no matter what it is, the conflict is what gives us something to sink our teeth into when we read. We take sides (Team Jacob!), we feel the tension and fear and desperation of the characters as we read, hoping for resolution. And what better conflict that a real live, bonifide war?

The Illiad is the most memorable story in history, not because Paris and Helen lived happily ever after behind the fortress wall of Troy but because Ulysses, Agamemnon, Achilles and Menelaus all fought for the honor and reputation of their people. Hector was respected across the battle lines for his fearless courage in the face of nearly certain death. Its War that shows what a people are truly made of. War makes hero and shames the losers. Who remembers the names of the Trojans? I bet I’m the only one. You know why? They didn’t win.

In my serial novel Two Moons of Sera (Vol 1 is available now on Amazon and Vol 2 will be released in March) the main story is set on a world where the two dominant races are at war. The Sualwet, a waterborne race which can came on land is battling the earth dominant species, the Erdlanders.

Sualwet and Erdlanders are genetically related but that’s as far as it goes. It has been a millennia since the two species were close enough to interbreed and as their evolution has continued it has made the specialization of each species pronounced.

The Sualwet live beneath the water. They have evolved to breath through their skin, absorbing oxygen directly. With no body hair and webbed feet the Sualwet live in a tight community bound together by responsibility and mutual benefit more than emotion. Barely recognizable as human, the Sualwet have wide, dilated black eyes and have not had a live birth in 300 years. Until Sera that is.

The Erdlanders on the other hand are a deeply social species, almost pack driven in their need to have a community and mate. Despite their social community the Erdlanders are having fewer and fewer children. In an effort to continue their race The Counsel has set up camps where the young and fertile are kept until they Match and procreate. This has lead to highly specialized jobs, creating a class system where the most fertile and intelligent rule over everyone else.

In their effort to find a solution to the decreasing population the Erdlanders have been experimenting of Sualwet prisoners, attempting to solve the genetic link that allows the Sualwet to breed but not them. For generations the Erdlanders and Sualwet have fought. The Sualwet tactics are precise and cruel, leading to the deaths of thousands of Erdlanders.

This is the backgrop for SeraFay’s life. Ostracized by her mother’s Sualwet family due to her inability to stay below the surface for more than a few hours at a time and the hair growing upon her head, SeraFay and her mother live in a small cove, undiscovered by both species. The war is a distant thought as Sera grows up, something she reads about in books her mother is able to salvage for her from the sea. Nothing but bedtime stories her mother tells her, she can’t imagine the kind of devastation war can cause: until it lands on her small beach.

So which are you? Erdlander or Sualwet? What side of the war will you fight on?

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Review: Two Moons of Sera by Pavarti K. Tyler

[Note: This review is on parts 1 and 2 of Two Moons of Sera]

"In a world where water and earth teem with life, Serafay is an anomaly. The result of genetic experiments on her mother's water-borne line Serafay will have to face the very people responsible to discover who she really is. But is she the only one?"

What would you do if you spent your entire life alone, fending for yourself, with no one to talk to but your mother? This is how part 1 begins, with Sera as a "monster", part Sualwet, part Erdlander and accepted by no one.

You never know what you don't have until it teases you.
When she finds Tor, she longs for physical contact and to share her life with someone. After becoming friends, soon Tor and Sera find themselves in a war, thrown into the world Erdlanders having to either blend in or stand out and take the consequences.

The imagery that Pavarti creates is gorgeous. A life blended between land and sea, the intensity of books and pages, words and poetry. Sera's webbed toes standing out, digging benieth the sand, scarred and torn from running, Tor's scars all over his body as you long to know more of the story that Pavarti hints at. She makes you feel everything.

I found the characters easy and believable. Afterall, how would you be if you lived in the wild, fending for yourself all of your life? You might be a little crazy, a bit on edge and hidden just as Tor was. I know that if I was kicked out of my homeland I'd be a bit bitter, hurt and shut down as Sera's mom appeared to be. Although I'm not sure I could ever live like Sara or Tor, you get to see how you might live if you were to grow up in their situation.

Part 2 of Two Moons of Sera took a turn I didn't see coming with an ending that left me wanting more. My only complaint being the abruptness of the endings. If you're looking for a good, fast paced book to read with a different paranormal approach, this book is for you.

My rating for this book:

Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number-cruncher who has been committed to causing trouble since her first moment on this Earth. Her eclectic career has flirted with Broadway, Teaching, Law Firms and the IRS. Author of many short stories, Pavarti spans genres from Horror and Erotica all the way to Fantasy. Currently, Pavarti is hard at work establishing her Indie Publishing Company Fighting Monkey Press.