NERFA Category Finalists - Goldilox's Reviews

I was lucky to participate in this year's National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award contest, sponsored by the First Coast Romance Writers, a chapter of the RWA. I was the final round judge for the Paranormal and Futuristic category. Yesterday I announced the winner of this year's contest in this category HERE. 

Today I am reviewing the two runners up! Below you will find some info about each book, along with my Really Short Review. Check them both out!

Wicked Flames
(Solsti Prophecy #3)
Sharon Kay
Release: July 14, 2014
Goodreads  Amazon

Gin Bonham lives with a dark secret. Born with an ability she never wanted, she builds her life around science and logic, running from the terror she is capable of causing. When sexy stranger Mathias spots her on a dance floor and cuts in, he leads Gin in a sensual rhythm that continues long after the music stops. But Mathias hides the fact that he knows exactly what she can do: in the deepest recesses of her mind lurks the power to manipulate fire. Destiny is coming for her and it doesn’t care if she’s ready or not.

Mathias possesses tracking and espionage skills so extraordinary that his fellow Lash demons call him The Hunter. Pursue and interrogate. He never fails. When he is tasked with coaxing Gin to work with the Lash demons against a common enemy, he relishes the challenge. But meeting her awakens a new, primal drive that pulls him toward her even as his tactics break her heart.

Failing to win Gin’s cooperation is not an option. But she is determined to flee, putting thousands of miles between her and any other supernatural creatures, including Mathias. Can she cool the charred embers of her emotions enough to forgive Mathias and embrace what she was meant to become? Or will her ability explode into something more than she can control?

Really Short Review:

Wicked Flames has it all: a lot of secrets, a little bit of action, and a steamy romance! I really enjoyed this book. When I received it to review for the contest I panicked a little at seeing that it is book three in the series, since I never just pick up a book in the middle of a series. Book reader blaspheme! However, once I began reading I was soothed by the fact that you can actually start with this book and be completely fine!

I liked the book's leading lady, Gin, a lot. She is smart and scientific, and I like when a paranormal romance has a smart heroine that actually feels real. Mathias is pretty great himself. He's more of a typical PNR hero...sexy, overly protective, etc. The two of them together are a great combo and I could really feel their flirting and eventual passion sizzle of the pages!

Wicked Flames, and the series its a part of, focuses on a group of demon men and a race of four women with unique powers - the Solsti. Each of the four Solsti possess magical abilities related to one of the four elements: wind, water, fire, and earth. I've already downloaded the Kindle version of the first book in the series. Its currently free on Amazon HERE. Check out the series if you're in the mood for romance - you won't be disappointed! And if you want to start with Wicked Flames, you be able to follow the story just fine.

    

  4 / 5 stars

Overload Flux

(Central Galactic Concordance #1)

Carol Van Natta

Release: October 18, 2014

Goodreads  Amazon

The Central Galactic Concordance has been stable for two centuries, but trouble is brewing. A pandemic is affecting hundreds of civilized planets, and someone is stealing the vaccine...
Brilliant investigator Luka Foxe's hidden mental talent is out of control, making him barely able to function in the aftermath of violence, and the body count is rising. The convoluted trail leads to a corrupt pharma industry and the possibility of an illegal, planet-sized laboratory. In the face of increasing threats, he must rely on an enigmatic, lethal woman he just met, but she has deep secrets of her own.
Mairwen Morganthur hides extraordinary skills under the guise of a dull night-shift guard. The last thing she wants is to provide personal security for a hot-shot investigator, or to be plunged into a murky case involving sabotage, treachery, and the military covert operations division that would love to discover she’s still alive.
Two more lives in a rising death count won’t bother their enemies one bit. Their only hope for survival lies in revealing their dark secrets and learning to trust one another.

Really Short Review:

Overload Flux is an interesting and complex science fiction story centered around Luka, a detective whose special abilities war with his psyche and Mairwen, a stoic security guard trying to hide her past. Separately I liked Luka and Mairwen. I especially liked Luka and felt like he was the more relatable character. I always enjoy a good story about damaged characters finding each other, and both Luka and Mairwen are definitely damaged. I ultimately didn't feel their chemistry with each other, but as individual characters I found them to be quite intriguing. Each is hiding secrets from the other and each's secrets, and subsequently their past, come to light as the story unfolds. 

The story didn't resonate with me on a deeper level and the pace of the plot seemed a little slow for me, especially since I tend to expect more action from my sci-fi. However, after finishing the book I learned that others felt a much better connection to this book than I did and really loved it. Please take a look at other opinions on Goodreads and Amazon (links above) and check it out for yourself, especially if you're in the mood for some serious sci-fi!

   

3 / 5 stars

NERFA Winner Announced and Reviewed!

I was lucky to participate in this year's National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award contest, sponsored by the First Coast Romance Writers, a chapter of the RWA. I was the final round judge for the Paranormal and Futuristic category. I am happy to announce the winner of this year's contest!

2015 NERFA Winner

Paranormal and Futuristic Romance Fiction:

Spark Rising

Congrats to the winner!

Below you can read my review for the winning book. And definitely check out these links to get a copy for yourself!

Goodreads  Amazon  Barnes and Noble

Spark Rising
(The Progenitor #1)
Kate Corcino
Release: December 15, 2014

All that’s required to ignite a revolution is a single spark rising.
Two hundred years after the cataclysm that annihilated fossil fuels, Sparks keep electricity flowing through their control of energy-giving Dust. The Council of Nine rebuilt civilization on the backs of Sparks, offering citizens a comfortable life in a relo-city in exchange for power, particularly over the children able to fuel the future. The strongest of the boys are taken as Wards and raised to become elite agents, the Council’s enforcers and spies. Strong girls—those who could advance the rapidly-evolving matrilineal power—don’t exist. Not according to the Council.
Lena Gracey died as a child, mourned publicly by parents desperate to keep her from the Council. She was raised in hiding until she fled the relo-city for solitary freedom in the desert. Lena lives off the grid, selling her power on the black market.
Agent Alex Reyes was honed into a calculating weapon at the Ward School to do the Council’s dirty work. But Alex lives a double life. He’s leading the next generation of agents in a secret revolution to destroy those in power from within.
The life Lena built to escape her past ends the day Alex arrives looking for a renegade Spark.

Review:

Spark Rising was a wonderful find: an adult dystopian sci-fi with well-rounded characters, an exciting plot, and a great slow burning romance. I was happily impressed with this book and I'm looking forward to future installments in this series!

The first surprise I got with Spark Rising was that it was an adult novel. I'm not sure why, but I thought it was going to be Young Adult. I don't think dystopians are seen in adult speculative fiction as often as YA, at least not by me. So as I began reading and discovered that the main female character, Lena, is twenty-four years old and the main male character, Alex is even older, I became even more excited to read on!

As I read about the world that the author had created I became fully immersed in the story. Spark Rising is set a few hundred years in the future, after an apocalyptic event that led to the world being forced to pretty much go back to the days before electricity. Something that people call Dust is settled all over the world, in every object both organic and inorganic, and is even inside people. I do wish the explanation for Dust had come sooner. As it is, it wasn't fully explained until about the halfway point, and I kept wondering before then what the heck Dust was and how it could do the things it could do. But, if you don't let that distract you and understand that you'll get an explanation that makes sense eventually, you will really enjoy the concept of Dust.

In the world of Spark Rising, a Spark is a person who can control and manipulate this Dust. One of the things that Sparks can do is create electricity, and the remade government likes to take advantage of this fact and use Sparks to power towns through painful methods. They even 'send away' Sparks that are too strong. Its the typical dystopian setup: protagonists going up against some sort of big, bad government types that are keeping secrets and have evil intentions. What I think sets this book apart is the premise of the Sparks, world building that was actually relatable, and well fleshed-out characters.

The book is written from the alternating points of view of Lena and Alex, and I honestly don't know whose POV I preferred. Both are such fantastic characters! Lena is strong, feisty, and smart. She has some serious spunk, and she is an extremely talented Spark who has lived in hiding. After meeting Alex she has to decide whether or not to put herself in danger to do what's right. Its a powerful struggle that she goes through and I liked how she could be impulsive one moment and level-headed the next.

Alex, who is also a Spark, definitely goes through his own difficult struggle though. He's often stoic and serious, probably because he's always making important decisions in his head. However, he's sexy and he knows it. For a long time there's some great sexual tension between him and Lena. I wasn't even sure for a while that we would even get any romance out of these two because they were both so staunchly dead set against it! But when they finally start to work out their kinks it's GREAT. There's some definite sparks between these two! (Ha, see what I did there!?) Alex is loyal and protective, but his number one goal is the mission...until he starts falling for Lena. I enjoyed watching him go through his internal conflict of the mission versus Lena's safety, and it was a constant inner battle for him. There is a slight love triangle here, but I honestly don't believe that the other person is really any match for these two. Lena and Alex are a complicated couple who are prefect for each other. They understand each other, even the bad parts.

Overall I absolutely loved Spark Rising! I'm so thrilled to have found a new author and a terrific series to continue to keep an eye on! I recommend giving this book a try. I'll be waiting for the next in the Progenitor Saga!

Recommended for fans of: an urban fantasy-type plot pace, post-apocalyptic settings, strong heroines, science fiction in a dystopian world, slow building romance, and great romance couples.

A copy of this book was received as part of the contest, in exchange for an honest review.

    1/2

  4.5 / 5 stars