review

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5-Star Review for Elixir

Posted on January 18, 2015February 5, 2015 by Anna Abner

Or, A Very Flattering Review of Elixir

Click here for the original post on The Book Landers.

Review (5 out of 5 stars):

I completely devoured this novel in one sitting (I think I read Elixir in a about 2 and a half hours.) The suspense was taut between the pages from start to finish–kudos to Abner for penning such a gripping book! I literally sat in front of the computer, glued to the monitor as I scrolled through the pages as fast as possible.

The set up isn’t drastically different from your typical zombie apocalypse set up: a virus has spread like the plague, making victims to become flesh craving monsters with bloodshot eyes. However, there seems to be a tiny, teensy, weensy fraction of the population that seems immune to this disease.

Maya, the main character of the book, is a 17 year old girl whose father works at a lab searching for the cure to the “zombie” disease. As many cities become over run by zombies, Maya’s father begin making preparations should it happen to their town. One day, while her father is at work, Maya gets attacked by a zombie and escapes by hiding in the bunker her father had installed for such scenario. After 14 days of hiding underground and no signs of her father ever coming back, Maya ventures into a very different world.

Remembering her father had mentioned something about completing the cure the day he disappeared, Maya embarks on a journey to his lab in the city to find this cure. On the way, she (unwillingly) picks up ab 8 year old girl. They soon get pursues by a pack of zombies and is saved by other fellow survivor–including a wannabe soldier named Pollard.

I really think Abner did an incredible job with building Maya’s character. She’s very unique, especially when compared to other heroines of zombie books. First of all, she’s not exactly what you would call bad-ass; she’s terrified of guns (not good in a zombie infested world) ever since her twin brother committed matricide. However, although no expert wilderness survivalist, Maya does keep her cool and use logic and reasoning to navigate through the dangerous new world. Also, Maya loves music and the author does an excellent job depicting this through descriptions (told from Maya’s POV) that make musical reference (ie. footsteps pounded to a staccato beat or something like that.) Also, I am so glad there was no insta-love and that Maya wouldn’t take any of that “I’ll die for love” kind of crap; no, she’s all about learning how to survive.

Even though there was no insta-love, there were some attempts of Pollard trying to strike up a relationship between him and Maya. I personally found those scenes awkward; I’m not sure if the author did that on purpose or not (since Pollard being an awkward sort of guy is pretty plausible.)

Anyways, final thoughts: Awesome read! You’ll fly right through it, especially if you love music and zombies. The book is an on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of read 🙂

<3 Anna

Enjoy this Free Red Plague Sneak Peek PDF full of excerpts and extras!

New 5-Star Review of Spell of Vanishing

Posted on December 10, 2014December 4, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, An Enthusiastic Endorsement For The New Release In The Dark Caster Series

I feel so blessed to have the job I have. Thank you, RC!

SiMPLiREAD’s review of Spell of Vanishing:

Click here for the original post.

This book is brilliant! It is thoroughly gripping and keeps the reader on the edge of the seat. I enjoyed it, needless to say. The plot beautifully blends the paranormal world of the White Wraith, Dark Caster and Cole with the earthly world. It’s a pretty tough job to create a world of where such fantasies are abound.The book combines many genres at one go – drama, suspense, action and dark fantasy. The author is also an excellent story-teller, having conjoined the suspense and thrills in the lives of the protagonists with the ambience. The characters are perky, witty and mentally strong, all at once. If you love reading books that are fascinating and electrifying, with memorable characters, you would love this one as much as I did! 5 out of 5 stars. –RC Bean

<3 Anna

Reading Cafe Review of Spell of Binding

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Anna Abner

Or, A Great Review For My Latest Dark Caster Novel

You can read the original review here. Or check out the copy below:

Welcome back to the world of necromancers, witches, spells and a dark caster out to destroy the world complete with a cute love story tied up as a bow on top of the package. The story continues from the first book with Holden and Rebecca where witch Daniela disappears shortly after helping them. It turns out Daniela was abducted by evil casters Carver and Jeff who need her magic for their own selfish needs. The story starts with Daniela and heart throb hero David in captivity at the hands of Carver and Jeff.

David and Daniela do have some kind of romantic history together but it wasn’t a good one so you can imagine how awkward it is to realize you are captured with a person you did have such a history with. Out of desperation, David and Daniela do escape with the price that Daniela’s powers are bounded and hindered. This puts David in the position to tap into his hidden necromancer abilities which he didn’t know he had. In this journey to fight Carver and Jeff’s evil clutches all the while saving Cole who is Daniela’s friend from going insane from a spell, freeing Daniela’s powers, honing David’s necromancer skills, setting a troubled teenage girl straight and protecting David’s four year old son. With all that being said, you would think they have a lot on their plate.

Despite all that, there is a lot of romantic development between the couple that I really enjoyed. At first they are awkward and tense around each other but you see the growing chemistry show itself more and more. If you thought Holden and Rebecca are steamy, David and Daniela take it up another notch more. Yum! What I really appreciate about the couple is that while it is normal to have emotional or romantic baggage and they both had their fair share of baggage, they worked with each other on it. One of the aspects that I really liked about this story was the whole second chance at love facet. I can say I fell in love with David and Daniela, they are such likeable characters! David and Daniela both possess that selflessness and are always ready to help a friend in need. They are also described as one sexy couple that for some reason they remind me of Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum by the way they are physically described. I love the balance of this book where one facet wasn’t skimped whether it was the building love story, the overall story arc of the series, the little cameos of Holden and Rebecca from the first book and the really cool paranormal aspects. There was not a part where I felt like the story dragged but kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I highly recommend the series to a friend and I look forward to more books in the series.

Xtina

<3 Anna

The Bitten By Paranormal Review of Spell of Binding

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Anna Abner

Or, A 3 Star Review For My Latest Release

You can read the original review here.

Bitten by Paranormal’s Review:

We briefly meet Dani when she helps our main characters in book one, Spell of Summoning. A preschool teacher and powerful witch, Dani has a fear that if she physically touches someone, she may accidentally hurt them with her powers. David on the other hand, is a perfectly normal human – with no special powers or abilities that he is aware of. So why did these crazy people kidnap him and Dani – and why do they think he’s a necromancer?

A lot of the history between Dani and David comes out in the beginning while they are locked in the basement – but the first part of the story moved a little slow for my taste. Once they escaped from the basement things got a lot better story-wise. David was forced to confront the fact that he may be more than he thinks he is – and he will have to deal with it and learn how to use it in order to save his son and Dani.

David was a great character. I love when people don’t blindly accept it when they discover the paranormal in books. David fought it tooth and nail and it made it that much easier to just fall into the story. His fear for the safely of his son drags him kicking and screaming into the paranormal world. Dani’s fear seems a bit irrational at first, and I totally related to David’s feelings towards her. As we learn more about her though, things are explained and her past has it’s own share of hardships.

Dani and David try to find a way to rediscover themselves and find romance in the middle of everything. They seem to be perfectly matched, but their pasts and their present are working both for them and against them.

<3 Anna

Bitten by Paranormal Review of Spell of Summoning

Posted on June 4, 2013June 5, 2013 by Anna Abner

Or, a Good Book Blogger Review of Dark Caster #1

You can see the website here.

3 out of 5 howls

I loved Abner’s take on necromancer’s. It was refreshing to see them portrayed as real people that have a choice to use their powers for good or evil, instead of just automatically being nasty people because of their powers. Holden is a genuinely good guy with lots of baggage. Baggage that he is forced to confront head on if he wants to save Becca from demonic possession. She’s got a particularly nasty demon that is being summoned to take control of her. Becca and Holden need to find a way to stop it and kill the necromancer controlling it before it’s too late.

Even though I had guessed the bad guy’s identity part way through, the story was written in a way that I kept second guessing myself all along the way. With lots of action and a deep love between our two characters, it was a fantastic story that kept me very entertained until the very end.

–Jasmyn

<3 Anna

Coffee Time 5 Star Review of Spell of Summoning

Posted on April 15, 2013October 4, 2013 by Anna Abner

Or, A Great Book Blogger Review

Click here for the entire review.

Wow! It has been some time since I read a book that kept me that on the edge of my seat! I loved Spell of Summoning. The paranormal world reflected in this book was obviously created with both imagination and good research making the story of Holden and Rebecca come to life. The author did an excellent job of dropping clues about who the evil necromancer could be without totally giving the game away. I had at least three people that I thought it could be but wasn’t really sure which is one thing I love about books like this. If I can figure out who the bad guy is in the first twenty or thirty pages I tend to lose interest, this was not the case with this book. The feelings between Holden and Rebecca are sweet, and sensual and the author does an excellent job of showing their budding relationship, and by the end of the book I was truly satisfied with how the ending came about. This is a wonderful, suspenseful love story and great feel good book! If you love happy endings, but like there to be turmoil and obstacles before you get to the end, as well as, story having paranormal paranormal elements, then you do not want to miss Spell of Summoning. I will definitely be picking up this author’s next book!

Regina
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

<3 Anna

Reading Cafe 4 Star Review of Spell of Summoning

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Anna Abner

Or, My Second Book Blogger Review

Click here for the original post.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Holden Clark walks into Rebecca Powell’s life, a tall, blue-eyed stranger who stirs long forgotten desires. But nothing, including this man, is what it seems. A dark necromancer is targeting Becca for a full-blown demonic possession. She is thrust into a world she never knew existed—a world where dark casters create chaos and necromancers talk to the dead.

Holden has no faith in his power. A necromancer, he communicates with the dead, but he has never embraced his gifts. Now, he has no choice but to stop the dark caster attacking Rebecca, but accepting this mission means he’ll be delving into dangerous magics he’s never used before.

Under the protection of the damaged and mysterious Holden, Rebecca will question everything …

********************

Review: Spell of Summoning is an interesting read of magic and necromancy. While I am a fan of paranormal genres, I have never heard of necromancy. When I first read the mention of it, I had a feeling I was reading out of my comfort zone. Despite that I found myself enjoying the book immensely and intrigued with the whole necromancy stuff. While I am used to reading about spells, spell weaving, shape shifting and magical healing; necromancy entails spell circles, cutting yourself and calling on spirits to help and draw energy from.

Spell of Summoning is about Necromancer, Holden Clark and Real Estate realtor, Rebecca Powell. The gist of the story is Rebecca has a demon trying to take over her and it is slowly but surely wearing down her defenses. The story is a race against time to rid Rebecca of the demon before the people responsible finish the spell. Of course this becomes an adventure but this adventure also helps both Holden and Rebecca face their inner demons and open their eyes to their trues wants in life. I do like how the chemistry between Holden and Rebecca builds slowly and that their lovemaking scene is very explosive. Though there are times I did feel like their chemistry fell a little flat at times.

This book kept me at the edge of my seat, guessing who the culprit who is trying to destroy Rebecca and unleash a scary demon out into the world. I liked how this story was a perfect balance between a plot that drags on and a fast- faced plot. I appreciated this very much. Out of five stars I would rate this a 4 for the reason that the plot, necromancy, and passion were spot on with me but with the background story of both Rebecca and Holden along with the twists and turns of the story; I felt sorry for them more than half the time.

Reviewed By Xtina

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<3 Anna

Community Bookstop 5 Star Review of Spell of Summoning

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Anna Abner

Or, My First Book Blogger Review

Click here for the original post.

Title: Spell of Summoning
Author: Anna Abner
Publisher: Mild Red Books
Pages: 275
Format: ebook
Source: Author Request Review

Description:

Under the protection of the damaged and mysterious Holden, Rebecca will question everything …

My Thoughts:

This book starts out dragging you into a world with magic and demons and spells attached to Rebecca Powell and it’s up to Holden to save her. While Rebecca is very resistant to this idea, all she knows about magic is about how it’s make believe and doesn’t exist when Holden shows up she assumes he’s some crazy stalker but there are things happening to her that she can’t explain or even fathom.

I loved this book so much it was a great paranormal adventure with many twists and turns letting you wonder who is putting a spell on Becca. I also loved the romance and watching Holden connect with Becca and the way he was able to set his Grams free. Awesome job Ms. Abner did telling this story!

<3 Anna