Wednesday 24 September 2014

URBAN FANTAY YOUNG ADULT REVIEWS: Clanless 1: Senior Year Bites and Tales of the Traveller 1: Sebaska's Tale - Julie A Campbell


Release Date: 05/07/14
Publisher:  Untold Press

SYNOPSIS:

Senior year is supposed to be fun: boys, dances and graduation. It's significantly harder to enjoy it when you're dead.
Thanks to an innocent game of Truth or Dare, I wound up sleeping in a graveyard. Probably not the brightest thing I've ever done, but thanks to a couple of well-placed fangs, I'm here to tell the tale.
Vampires might stalk pop culture, but they’re just myths, right? Yeah. Not so much...
Everything seems a lot more difficult when you’re a nocturnal creature of the night, especially school. I was managing, but couldn't keep it hidden from my friends. Steph decided that we should be cool, like superheroes, and fight crime.
I’m a vampire, not a hero. Living in a sleepy New England town, crime is a little harder to come by. At least it is until a serial killer moves into the area. He’s got the authorities stumped, but then again, the cops don’t have a teenage, blood-sucking, non-hero on their team. It doesn't take long for me to discover the world is full of monsters. I may be one of them…but will I turn out to be the hero, or the killer everyone is looking for


REVIEW:

The first of Julie’s books that I sat back to read and whilst I knew that Sabaska’s Tale was the first, it was the premise of this one that really fired my imagination. What occurs within is a story that the reader will love to sit back to and enjoy as she weaves supernatural elements into a realistic world wonderfully and when added to the authors prose that keeps you turning the pages alongside cracking pace all round made this a book that I just couldn’t put down.

Finally add to this dialogue that not only sells itself but weaves the characters emotional aspects richly alongside the friends relationship into a pure joy to read all round gave me a cracking experience. 



Release Date: 05/07/13
Publisher:  Untold Press

SYNOPSIS:

To Anna, horses were more than a fascination, they were everything. Luckily, she had the opportunity to spend every summer on her grandmother's horse ranch in Colorado. Life was perfect, until she received the devastating news that her grandmother had been tragically killed. Anna knew she was the only member of her family who could take over the ranch and hopefully find new homes for her grandmother's beloved Arabians.
Anna wasn't alone for long. Her grandmother had hired a local teenage boy to help tend the horses for the summer. Anna didn't stand a chance against Cody's quiet charm and the two rapidly become friends. However, even with the responsibilities of the ranch, Anna quickly discovers the secrets her grandmother had been hiding and a legacy that sends her on an adventure she never thought possible. An adventure in the saddle of a horse that wasn't a horse at all. Sabaska, her grandmother's favorite Arabian, was a Traveler; a magical being that could travel between worlds. With Anna at the reins, they find themselves trapped in a fight against evil with the highest of stakes… Their very survival.


REVIEW:

I love something a little different so when I got to read a book by horse lover Julie, I couldn’t wait to see how her passion would translate into an Urban Fantasy tale. As with the authors other writing that I’ve read recently (Senior Year Bites) she brings the readers great characters that have a likeable factor that really creates that special bond. You care about them and you want them to achieve their goals, dreams and of course the mission to which they’re undertaking.

The prose is solid, the concepts wonderfully rich and when added to dialogue that just trips off the page all round gave me an experience that I just loved to sit back with. Add to this a heartwarming sensation at the books end and all round I was more than pleased with this experience.








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