"The Befallen"...By Cambria Williams

 Release day.

There's something about the day when it's really official, when the book that's inundated your life for days, weeks, months, years is unleashed upon the world. Someone somewhere has the stats...there's probably hundreds--even perhaps thousands--of books were released today, including Cambria Williams's The Befallen.

This is Williams's first book. If you ask me, it lacks a "first time" feel. The protagonist, Sloane faces a cruel world in search for justice. Williams's talent is evident as the reader and Sloane discover the fascinating world in which she ventures. Her village gone, her family dead...when others see Sloane they see weakness. We see more because we see the struggles, the danger, the triumphs and the failures.

Years ago I read a lot of fantasy, but not anymore. Maybe because of that, the story was fresh, the world created believable and tangible. If you're a fan of fantasy with a hero unlike so many others, give The Befallen a try. You can order it by clicking: HERE.

Release days are exciting. Even though it's not my book, I can still feel that spark, the feeling of seeing the reviews come in, finding out what people think of your words. There's nothing else like it. Check out The Befallen. It's a great read.

Carson Boss's "Glimpse"...A Book Review

 Last Saturday, I found myself in my old stopping grounds. I had a meeting which may turn out to be something cool (more details to follow if it actually happens...). And because I was down south, I decided on my way home to stop by my friend's book signing for his debut novel, Glimpse. 

I'm glad I did.

It's a great little story.

Carson Boss's Glimpse mixes a ghost story, a love story, an interdimensional adventure that's fresh, engaging, and thoughtful. Mark Banks, a university freshman in Maryland, finds himself caught up in a mystery brought on from an assignment in his favorite class. While visiting a cemetery Mark and his friends try to capture paranormal evidence, a subject Mark found incredibly interesting. The events at the cemetery will soon change his life.

Thus begins a journey that includes Mark, his friends, his professor, his religious leader, and a girl who experienced the same thing a year before...someone Mark needs as a resource but who becomes much more.

Though Carson has written several non-fiction works, this is Boss's debut fiction novel. He does a good job with the characters that we feel we know them on a deeper level. The many conversations help us as well as Mark understand the worlds that are now open to him. Because their mission is so important, evil forces seek out Mark and his friends to try and stop them. Will Mark succeed in stopping ultimate evil be unleashed on the world? Or will the darkness overcome the bank of spiritual warriors?

To find out, you can order Carson's book by clicking the Amazon site: HERE. If you like plucky teenagers battle what appears to be unsurmountable forces, you'll like Glimpse. I know I did.

Book Review...Jana J. Dearden's "Echoes On The Rock"

 Fans of historical fiction, in the vein of Michener, like the genre because you get more than just a sense of the characters. The location becomes a character, too, a character you get to know, you feel a kinship for, an emotional connection. I believe this because I am a fan of Michener. It's how I feel when I read a novel about not only the people, but the land--especially when the story covers centuries.

In Jana Dearden's debut novel, Echoes on the Rock (a story in three parts...), we are transported back to Italy in the 1400s. It's where the story of the heretic Waldensians, a group of religious people who are at war with the Pope, his church, and the Pope's army. Families battle to save their homes and their beliefs. Dearden's vivid descriptions of how they lived, fought, and died transported me to a land I've never known...the avalanche scene along with the stories of battles were especially engaging.

Part Two of the story takes place almost one-hundred years later where a people are persecuted again for what they believe. Fast forward almost three-hundred years for Part Three when descendants of the Waldensians travel from Italy to America after converting to an American religion and joining other saints in Utah. Having lived in Utah almost all my life and having heard the story of the pioneers all my life, many of the stories as the families traveled west were eye-opening and informative.

Echoes on the Rock is extremely well-researched with creative details that puts the reader back in time during fascinating periods of history. If you're familiar with the Mormon Pioneers, for example, you may find--as I did--new incites into their plight. I also learned about a culture and time I knew nothing about. And after all, isn't that what good writing is supposed to do?

If you'd like to check out Jana's book for yourself, and if you're a fan of historical fiction (especially religious historical fiction...), I highly recommend her book. You can order it from Amazon by clicking: HERE.