The Emperor’s Edge Series by Lindsay Buroker

Link to The Emperor’s Edge on Amazon

Okay, so I might be a little bit obsessed with this series. I might have read all of the additional side stories (it’s so awesome that she writes those).

I’m not into romance novels, at all, so I like it when there is very subtle romance. And believe me, this is SUBTLE. It takes several books before you even realize there’s a relationship going on. But I love it… Sicarius and Amaranthe! The assassin and the ex-cop (or the book’s version thereof). Extra bonus– a love triangle with Sicarius’s son.

But mainly this series is about action, and hilarious characters (Maldynaldo the butt-kicking male escort) , and steam-punkiness, though the author says she didn’t know what steam-punk was when she wrote it. I give her that one. I wrote a story when I was younger that is totally steam-punk, before I’d ever heard of it. Not that I’m any good at writing steam-punk. You have to have some mechanical understanding to write good steam-punk. Me? Not so much.

Quick Summary: Amaranthe is an enforcer (cop) who accidentally stumbles into the middle of a plot against the Emperor. The Emporer crushes on her so his advisors send her out to seduce Sicarius, an infamous assassin, in an attempt to get her killed. Instead she recruits Sicarius to help the Emperor.

Here’s the whole series so far: The Emperor’s Edge, Dark Currents, Deadly Games, Conspiracy, and Blood and Betrayal. There’s one more coming. I can’t wait for the last book! She also wrote several novellas that fit between the books: The Assassin’s Curse, Shadows Over Innocence, and Beneath the Surface. I just finished Beneath the Surface and if you don’t read it, you’re really missing part of the story. I’m not quite sure how she can put such important plot points into something that isn’t one of the main novels. How is that going to work with the sixth book? Will she tack it onto the beginning, or do a recap? Or just casually mention “Oh yes by the way these two side characters have had sex now. It happened after the fifth book and before the sixth, you may have missed it.”

I also enjoyed her other book Encrypted, to which I’m awaiting the sequel.

The Emperor’s Edge eBook is currently free to download!

Five kick-ass cupcakes!!!

Jenny Pox by JL Bryan

Link to Jenny Pox on Amazon.

So I read this book today, it’s offered for free for a limited time so I thought I’d give it a try. I was really excited about it, the description sounded so cool and the cover looked so mysterious. It’s about Jenny, a girl who infects anyone she touches with a pox that kills them, so she can never touch anybody. I think I might have gotten my hopes up too high and that’s why I was disappointed.

I wasn’t badly written. I could really feel the town and all the little details about Jenny’s life. But it was lacking a spark for me. The characters are a little flat, and the plot could have had more drama. The antagonist, Ashleigh, is evil and manipulative, but doesn’t really have a reason why. Also she does things that really gross me out. She has the power of desire, she can touch people and make them like her or desire other people. She forces, basically rapes, kids to have sex with each other at her school, even gets about 50 of them pregnant. It made me feel sick.

I won’t be reading the rest of the series or any of the other books offered by this author (they’re all priced low, and he has another series where the first book is also available at no cost). If you think the premise sounds interesting, you should still read it. I’d be interested to know if people agree or disagree with me on this book.

Lady of Devices by Adina Shelley, and the Magnificent Devices Series

Link to Lady of Devices on Amazon

Steam-punk! Steam-punk, steam-punk, steam-punk! Super rad Claire Trevelyan is from a “blood” family, who are aristocrats, She’s supposed to get married but she wants to study engineering instead. When her family loses all their money and moves to the country, she stays behind to try and find a job to pay for school. Instead she gets mugged, and when she gets revenge on the kids that stole from her, she ends up taking over their street gang and becoming the infamous Lady of Devices. There are more books in the series, Her Own Devices and Magnificent Devices, which are just as cool as the first book, and more coming!

This eBook is currently free to download!

The Hawk and His Boy by Christopher Bunn, and the Tormay Trilogy

Link to The Hawk and His Boy on Amazon

Epic fantasy trilogy! Jute is a thief, and when the Thieves’ Guild hires him to steal a box, there is one rule: Don’t open the box. Well, he opens the box and cuts himself on a knife inside, and suddenly everybody is trying to kill him. I really love the world that this series takes place in, and the legends it has. The land is protected by the four Anbeorun, Wind, Earth, Fire, and Sea. Since the little intro I gave was a little boring, I’ll give you hint–  the knife in the box was used to kill the Anbeorun of the Wind…

This eBook costs nothing, alright? Read it.  The rest of the trilogy, The Shadow at the Gate and The Wicked Day, are just as good. And Lo! Behold! You can get all three books for about $4. Chew on that– Link to A Storm In Tormay, the Trilogy.

Five cupcakes of chocolatey goodness!

The 19 Dragons by S.M. Reine

Link to The 19 Dragons on Amazon

The 19 Dragons is a short novel (a novella!), which as you can tell by the cover image, has steam-punk elements, but is much more than just a stream-punk story. It is truly unique. The story is written in present tense, and the author seems to be speaking right to you. Even the page formatting is creative, with empty spaces and pages that have only a few words on them and are very poetic.

The story itself is about 19 dragons. Each of them is a “pillar” of the land, which means that if they die, the land itself disappears. The dragons are immortal and can be reborn, as long as they have The Device. The Device is stolen in the first chapter, and the 1st Dragon is killed. Slowly the world begins to disappear as the dragons try to recover The Device and save the people who are still left.

Right now this eBook is free!

But if I had five chocolate cupcakes, I would trade all five for this book. (Yes, I’m a foodie. Sue me.)