Curses ~ By Calvin Dean – 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Humor, Paranormal, Romance

Thanks to the author for providing this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

320 Pages

Synopsis: Martin Gallagher buys an old house in the country. While pursuing Hannah, a widow from the neighborhood, he encounters a sexy but psychotic ghost named Agnes. To make matters worse, Agnes is dead-set on derailing his blossoming romance.

Meanwhile, an eccentric medium offers to help Martin exorcise his home, but this means resisting the temptress, encountering the bizarre, and braving supernatural encounters. Can Martin overcome his desires and fears long enough to lift the dreaded curse?

Curses is just one of those books that you come to the end and think “Now that was fun!” It’s creative, and original, and has one of the most likable main characters that I’ve come across.

The book is split into three parts and I found the first two to be the most enjoyable. Martin is a character I wish I knew in real life. He’s intelligent, sweet and funny, and somehow maintains a calm demeanor even while dealing with crazy and unexpected supernatural happenings. I loved his relationship with Hannah, but his dealings with Agnes, the psychotic ghost, had me in stitches!

Overall, Curses is a wildly entertaining book that I highly recommend to fans who like some humor mixed in with their horror. This was my first book by Calvin Dean, but it definitely won’t be my last!

Nyxia (The Nyxia Triad #1), by Scott Reintgen ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Science Fiction, Suspense, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Books For Young Readers for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

Synopsis: Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. 

Forever.

Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. 

But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

When I first started reading Nyxia, I thought it was going to be a knockoff of YA books like Divergent, Hunger Games, Red Rising, and Ender’s Game, but by the time I was a few chapters in, it took on its voice and I really enjoyed it.

There’s a lot of diversity among the characters. Emmett is black, and the other recruits come from all over the globe. My only problem was that the diversity seemed to become overwhelmed by the story. At the beginning we’re told that the teens are given translators, but that’s really all there is to it. If we weren’t told that, I don’t think I would have known that these kids were different nationalities. That said, I still enjoyed the characters who except for a few, were just the kind you want to root for.

The plot is slow-building, with lots of twists and turns. Because I was so emotionally invested in the recruits, I was mesmerized by what was happening. It’s suspenseful and I had a difficult time putting it down. 

My only other issue is with the ending. I thought it was rather rushed and anticlimactic, and it got a little bogged down with an unnecessary and unbelievable case of insta-love. 

Overall though, I think Nyxia is an entertaining and imaginative beginning to this new science-fiction trilogy, and I have no doubt it will have wide appeal with teen and adult fans of this genre. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book.