Fuzzy Nova

The Last Sacrifice by R. M. Putnam
Review by Jessa Larsen

Rosilda has been banished to the swamps and cut off from all civility for a past crime. She has been left there to live the remainder of her life along with her best friend Saba and her daughter Donait. She had previously been accustomed to the life and privileges of high court and thus spends her time wishing to return to such a life as well as wondering how her daughter will ever learn to be a proper lady. Donait has no such concerns and spends her time in the muddy swamp, catching frogs and treating them like baby dolls. Rosilda and Saba look on warily and begin to plot their revenge on the one who banished them to such a dreadful place.
Donait, much to her dismay as she rather likes her carefree life with her frogs, is given a very important role in Rosilda’s plans. She must be taught the ways of a proper lady and trained the ways of a murderer. Donait is given the most important role and when she succeeds, the three women can not only return to court, but claim the throne for themselves and rule as they please. The plan goes fairly smoothly until disaster befalls the trio. Donait finds herself in a whirlwind of trouble and things continue to spiral out of control. She must use her wits to survive and not allow her naivete and uncontrolled emotions get the best of her. Donait MUST succeed and carry out the plans if any of them are to survive the ordeal.
The Last Sacrifice is the second book in the Destiny’s Warriors series which follows the lives of ancient Irish people and includes sci-fy, mythology, and fantasy which happen to be my favorite genres. There are mortals and immortals, faeries, elves, warriors, bogeymen, and many others.The various characters are very fascinating and have a great complexity and depth to their personalities. You never know what their next decision and/or choice of action will be. I fell in love with each and every character in the book and can’t wait to see what’s going to happen to them next.
If you read The Last Sacrifice, get comfy and cancel all plans you might have as you won’t be able to put this book down. There are so many twists and turns and its is wonderfully written. I am now a big fan of R. M. Putnam and I’ll definitely be picking up her next copy as soon as it’s available. The Destiny’s Warriors series is a must read that everyone will love.

Originally posted on www.luxuryreading.com

Gemma by Meg Tilly
Review by Jessa Larsen

Gemma is the classic misfit. She comes from a broken home and gets by in school due to the fact that she’s known to throw a good punch if pushed too far. For the most part, Gemma finds it easiest to slide through life by being as invisible as possible. You see, Gemma has a dark secret that nobody must ever know about. She has something about her that invites her mother’s boyfriend to her bed every night. She can’t tell anyone or she’ll be in very big trouble. So it’s best if she stays invisible. That way nobody will ever ask any questions and risk hearing her dark secrets.
“Gemma” is the telling of a dark story that seems all too familiar these days. It tells the tale of a twelve year old girl who lives her life being physically and sexually abused. Her mother doesn’t stick around long enough at one time to care and mom’s boyfriend is around all too often for nightly visits to her bed. The tale turns even darker when her abuser takes it one step further and pimps her out. The pimp’n’ho lifestyle doesn’t last too long due to an even more unfortunate kidnapping. Who knows when the pain will end or if it will ever end well at all for poor Gemma.
This book seemed to be written in two parts. The first half of the book switches between the narrative of Gemma and the narrative of her abuser and kidnapper. This chronicles the tale of her abusive family at home as well as her kidnapping and what happens to her until eventually they’re found out and she’s taken into state custody. The second half of the book gives us the story of what happens to her kidnapper after his arrest as well as what happens to the victim. The second half isn’t as well written and rather slow, but I much preferred it to the first half. The first half is have interesting psychological insight and half what I would call erotica for pedophiles. I’ve read various books with this type of situation and they never went into as much detail. I had to skim a lot of the first half as it was disgustingly graphic. I have nothing against a good erotica, but when dealing with abusive pedophiles, I definitely don’t want the gritty details. The second half gets rid of the erotica, but gets a bit too slow and boring for my taste. I did enjoy the continued psychological insight of the abuser’s point of view and what he thought was going to happen to his life.
I would never recommend this book to anyone especially if you have any sore spots regarding traumatic abuse. I continually had to put the book down and walk away for a while due to the nature of its content. Various reviews from other readers and publishers stated that it was a great balance between abuse and a happy ending, but I would very much agree. I would never read this book again nor am I interested in reading anything else by this author.

Originally posted on www.luxuryreading.com

Freya’s Child by Alvin Franzmeier
Reviewed by Jessa Larsen

Albert Frietag lives in a quiet little town in Minnesota and as the deputy sheriff, it’s his job to keep it that way. Unfortunately, his past work as an undercover agent for the FBI has kept him a person of interest to both the FBI and the group of local Nazis he’d previously infiltrated. The FBI simply wants to keep an eye on him and recruit him as a field agent once he finishes his schooling, the Nazis have more dangerous work in mind. The local Nazi leader brings Albert back into the fold and gives him the task of working as a double agent for the FBI in order to rid the Nazis of competition as well as regain an artifact of interest. With war on the horizon for the United States, Albert now has to leave very pregnant wife and travel to northern Minnesota with an attractive German woman and try to keep the Nazis happy to keep his family safe as well as do what he should as an officer of the law.
Albert soon finds that things are not quite as clear cut as he had previously been thinking. It turns out that the woman he is to meet is named Hulda and she, as well as some of the German Nazis, believe in the Old Norse Gods. Albert finds himself feeling more and more unclear about the tasks at hand and whether or not it is all real when Hulda spins tale after tale of the Old Gods as well as the agenda of the Aryan nation. The job takes a dangerous turn when Hulda reveals that she believes the goddess Freya will manifest herself in human form and the form she has chosen is none other than Albert’s soon to be born daughter. Albert must makes some quick decisions and try his best to outsmart the witch-like Hulda to keep him and his family safe before it’s too late.
Freya’s Child is the third book in The Spiral Bridge Mystery Series and I would suggest reading the first two before picking up Freya’s Child. You can pick up the story just fine, but I found myself wondering about past events and wishing I’d read them so I would know a little more about how the characters got where they were. The story is fairly interesting, but it doesn’t have as nice of a flow as I would prefer. Hulda goes on a lot of tangents about Norse mythology and the Old Gods as to explain her beliefs and actions to Albert. She believes herself to be a high priestess and believes that the Gods speak with her and have give her tasks to carry oit personally. The background information is helpful, but I felt it just went on and on and disrupted the flow of the main story. The story also ended a bit abruptly for my taste.
I did enjoy Freya’s Child, but as I mentioned before, I would recommend reading the previous books in the series before picking up this one. I am also curious as to whether or not a fourth book will be published. It would be interesting to see how the events in this book play out and what happens to Albert and his family. Is he going to join the FBI full time? Is Hulda going to be captured? Will the Nazis realize Albert’s true goals and be angry about it? What will happen when the United States join the war? I guess I’ll have to hold my breath and wait for the next book.

Jessa lives in Utah with her husband, 2 sons, 2 cats, and 3 dogs. She is a full time mom and likes to blog and write short stories and poem in her spare time. She also likes anime and reading books and playing video games.

*Freya’s Child was a free review copy given to read and review.
Originally posted on www.luxuryreading.com