Blown Circuit

Title: Blown Circuit (Circuit Series #2)

Author: Lars Guignard

Genre: Spy/Thriller/Mystery

Publisher: Fantastic Press (December 12, 2012)

Buy Links: 

amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/Blown-Circuit-Adventure-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00AMRGX2A

amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blown-Circuit-Adventure-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00AMRGX2A

 

Synopsis: From the bestselling author of Lethal Circuit comes the long-awaited sequel, BLOWN CIRCUIT. Michael Chase is back. He survived China. Barely. But now he's got bigger problems. He has enemies. Deadly enemies. 

A pair of coordinates broadcast on an obscure frequency have brought Michael to Istanbul, Turkey where credible chatter has emerged that a terrorist group plans to use a devastating device to hold the world hostage. Designed by Nikola Tesla, arguably the greatest inventor of the Twentieth Century, the device is experimental, it is capable, and it has been missing for almost sixty years. If Michael is to prevent a catastrophe, he'll need to get to the device before the Conspiracy or risk upsetting the global balance of power forever. Of course, finding the Tesla Device is one thing, knowing whom he can trust with it is another matter entirely. If Michael is to survive, he'll have to do both. If he doesn't, what started as a bad day is about to become a disaster.

Review: Blown Circuit is a sequel, but it doesn't read like one, in the best way possible. I haven't read the first book, and I found no problems in following the story of Blown Circuit. It works great as a stand alone novel. It's an exciting adventure and while it is not a young adult novel, I feel that teens would enjoy this book as well as adults. There were times, during the action scenes, where it got a little hard to follow, but I think that's just the nature of the beast. It's hard to write clear action scenes; it's much easier to see them. Overall, Blown Circuit is a well-written adventure that many will enjoy reading. 4 Stars. 

 

Author Bio: Lars Guignard is a former film and television writer and graduate of both McGill University and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. His bestselling novel, Lethal Circuit, has been a TOP 100 Amazon Spy Thriller since its release. In addition to the Circuit series, Lars is the author of the children’s adventure series, Zoe & Zak and the Ghost Leopard, Zoe & Zak and the Yogi’s Curse and the paranormal mystery series, Brood. 

Ever since attending high school in the Indian Himalayas, Lars has been an avid backpacker and traveler. He now makes his home in the Pacific Northwest where he is busy completing the third Michael Chase thriller for release in 2013.

For news about new releases, please join his email list here:http://www.larsguignard.com/contact/

He can also be reached at the following places: 
Blog: www.larsguignard.com 
Twitter: @Lars_Gu 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LarsGuignardAuthor

I am a book tour host with CMBook Tours: I received a complimentary e-copy of this book for the purposeof review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Broken Bridges

 

 

Title: Broken Bridges

Author: Roy Kindelberger

Genre: Children's middle-grade 

Publisher: Black Rose Writing (August 21, 2013)

Buy Links: Black Rose Writing - Amazon 

Espresso Book Machine - Amazon UK

 

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Rey is sent to an old rundown steel town near Pittsburgh, where he has to deal with his aging grandparents, isolated dad, missing mom, bullies, broken bridges, and horseradish sauce. While Rey sits on an airplane bound for Pittsburgh, he clutches a crumpled note. It’s been forty-one days since his mom left—no words since. Rey’s dad is sending him to Pittsburgh for the summer to stay with his grandparents, so his dad can pull his life together. Rey feels so alone. Somehow Rey has to find himself. He’s timid, unsure, yet has to make choices. These choices lead Rey to become more confident, as he makes the transition into his teenage years. Rey arrives in the middle of a heat wave. He quickly runs into trouble with some bullies and is in several difficult situations. Rey hangs out with his friend, Jason and discovers a mentor in his grandfather—bonds which are all put to the test when his grandfather becomes extremely sick and Rey has a final confrontation with the bullies. And then there are his parents. Will things ever return to normal?

Review: Well, I certainly enjoyed the sentiment of Broken Bridges. I found it difficult to read at some points, because the accents of the characters don't flow and sometimes don't make sense. The grandpa is often seen saying "yunz," which I have never read any any book nor ever heard-and I consider myself to be well versed on small town hick. (I grew up in a small town in Utah and spent time in the South, maybe it's something more specific to where Kindelberger grew up. I don't know. It just bothered me.) There are also a great deal of sentence fragments in the story, and not on purpose as style (which I totally get; I do it, too) but just as mistakes. The story itself is rather sitcom-y in parts and has simple typos. I feel like Kindelberger just needs a really good editor to fix the errors and tighten up the novel. I think it would be well worth the cost. But back to the story itself. Broken Bridges is a very touching story with great characters. I think it would be a very relevant read for today's children, as many have divorced parents or other family troubles. This novel would help them to understand that they are not alone in their difficulties. 3 Stars. 


Author Bio: Roy was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He loves sharing stories with his children and students. They are always looking out for a story, book, poem, or song that makes a difference in their lives. Roy taught kindergarten for fifteen years. He now teaches second grade. Roy lives with his wife, Laura and two wonderful children, Emily and Hailey in Bothell, Washington. You can reach him at: http://www.roykindelberger.com/ Author Links: Website, Blog, and Facebook. 

I am a book tour host with CMBook Tours: I received a complimentary e-copy of this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Zoe & Zak and the Yogi's Curse

 

Title: Zoe & Zak and the Yogi's Curse (Zoe & Zak Adventures #2)

Author: Lars Guignard

Genre: Children /Middle Grade

Published: Fantastic Press (July 23, 2013)

Buy Links: 

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Zoe-Yogis-Curse-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00E4WFG2C

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoe-Yogis-Curse-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00E4WFG2C

Synopsis: Zoe and Zak are back in India. Again. And this time they’re attending Moonstock Himalayan Boarding School, which might seem fun except for the fact that the school is a little strange. Students ride elephants instead of school buses, snarling monkeys work as security guards, and angry parrots monitor the halls. And even when they manage to get used to the wildlife, the food is absolutely terrible.But living with a bunch of other kids their age can be a lot of fun too, or at least it seems that way until Zoe’s roommate goes missing. Following the directions written on a steamy bathroom mirror, Zoe and Zak fly through the clouds on their magic carpet to learn that the two of them have been chosen yet again. This time they’ve been asked to lift the Yogi’s Curse.It’s not going to be easy. Zoe and Zak don’t even know what the Yogi’s Curse is let alone how to lift it, but like it or not, they soon discover that a whole lot of people are depending on them. Now, if they’re going to save the day, they’re going to have to fool the monkey guards, avoid the nasty parrots, and maybe even develop a supernatural ability or two. Because lurking beneath Moonstock is a powerful new enemy. And if Zoe and Zak can’t stop him, nobody can.

Review: Adventure certainly seems to follow Zoe and Zak at their boarding school in India. Their adventures start in Zoe & Zak and the Ghost Leopard, but The Yogi's Curse can be read as an independent read. Guignard gives enough of the back story for their new adventure to make sense without it being a bore to the reader who has read The Ghost Leopard. Overall, I thought it was very imaginative and a fun read. I did have a problem with Guignard's use of the word "coolie" though. When I first read it, I thought, oh, isn't that a derogatory term? So, of course, I turned to Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie. I think, and certainly hope, that it is an out-dated term, and Guignard mistakenly used it. I also read Zoe as being a smart girl, she, herself, appears very well-read in The Ghost Leopard, and it seems as though she should know not to use that word, or having heard it, looked it up and learned of its origin. However, "coolie" is only in the first chapter, and there is much more to the book than one word! Aside from that word choice and a few grammatical errors and typos, I very much enjoyed The Yogi's Curse and recommend it to children and adults alike, including as a read-aloud or read-together book for parents and their children.



Author Bio: Prior to writing novels, Lars Guignard wrote for film and television. As a teenager he attended boarding school in the Indian Himalayas and his experiences there provided the inspiration for the Zoe and Zak series which now include: Zoe & Zak and the Ghost Leopard and Zoe & Zak and theYogi's Curse. He now makes his home in the Pacific Northwest where he is busy completing the third Zoe & Zak adventure for release in Fall 2013.For news about new releases, please join his email list here:
http://www.larsguignard.com/contact/

He can also be reached at the following places: Blog: http://www.larsguignard.com/contact/ Twitter: @Lars_Gu Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LarsGuignardAuthor

I am a book tour host with CMBook Tours: I received a complimentary e-copy of  this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are 100% my own.

The Matrix and the Alice Books: An Intertextual Study

Title: The Matrix and the Alice Books

Author: Voicu Mihnea Simandan

Genre: non-fiction / movie studies / literary criticism 

Synopsis: The Matrix and the Alice Books presents aspects of intertextuality in three primary sources: the script of the motion picture The Matrix written by directors Andy and Larry Wachowski, and the books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. Intertextuality is a set of relations with other texts, which can include direct quotations, allusions, literary conventions, imitation, parody and unconscious sources amongst others. In The Matrix there are few explicit references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. This book by Voicu Mihnea Simandan presents both the explicit references and the less direct ones, giving evidence from primary and secondary sources. In doing so, it makes use of a literary construction developed from Gérard Genette’s structuralist theory of transtextuality as a framework to present how a web of intertextual relationships is clearly formed between the Alice books and The Matrix. 

Review: I enjoyed reading The Matrix and the Alice Books. It was written very much like a thesis and followed thesis structure very well. While it wasn't a super original idea (what is?) it was enjoyable and well researched, as well as something I hadn't really ever thought about. All the terms were well defined and it was very clear how The Matrix and Alice fit together and to read into the intertexual relationship of the children's stories and the movie. Everything was well thought out, ideas were fully developed, and it was well presented. It was easy to read and understand, even without a thorough knowledge of The Matrix or either Alice book. I look forward to reading his upcoming novel: The Buddha Head.  I give The Matrix and the Alice Books 4.5 stars for its genre.  

Author’s Bio: Voicu Mihnea Simandan is a Romanian writer and freelance journalist who was 

born in 1978 in Arad, a small city in Transylvania. He has published short stories, non-fiction, and books for children. He has been calling Thailand home since 2002 and he has been a member of the Bangkok Writers' Guild since 2009 and a member of AP Writers since 2012. He is now teaching Language Arts and Social Studies at an international school in Bangkok. His upcoming debut novel, The Buddha Head, a suspense thriller set in Thailand, is scheduled for publication in late 2013. He loves archery, martial arts and travelling.

Author links: Facebook/ Twitter / Goodreads / Blog / Website

Buy links: Amazon.com/ Amazon.co.uk/ Kindle US / Kindle UK

Giveaways: For each tour stop, the author will give to the most engaging commenter an ecopy of The Rage of a New Ancestor, a collection of short stories set in Asia, where Voicu Mihnea Simandan also has one contribution. The author will be awarding a $10 grand prize to a randomly chosen commenter during the course of the tour.For each tour host, the author will give an e-copy of Mr. Cheng’s Silver Coffeepot, an anthology of Asian short stories, where Voicu Mihnea Simandan also has one contribution.

Tour Schedule: http://cmbooktours.com/the-matrix-and-the-alice-books-tourschedule-aug-19-25/

I am a book tour host with CMBook Tours: I received a complimentary e-copy of 

this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are 100% my own.

The Radio Murders: The Collectors

The Radio Murders: The Collectors by Chuck Collins jumps right into the action from page one. Sometimes this is a great storytelling tactic, but I found it unsavory in The Radio Murders. It was a little hard to follow and I felt lost for a bit. I also found this novel to be a little too adult for my taste: lots of vulgarity in language as well as sex scenes. Aside from that, I found the story enjoyable, yet hard to follow with too many indistinct characters. It was a very tangled web of deceit  mystery and action. It was intriguing, mysterious, and action packed. It ends with a cliffhanger, making the reader want to know what happens next. Unfortunately, this reader won't be finding out. It's an okay book, but not for me. 2 Stars. 

I am a book tour host with CM Book Tours: I received a complimentary e-copy of this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are 100% my own.