Friday Featured Spotlight ~ Untreed Reads & 3 Reviews

Founded in 2008, Untreed Reads is a digital-first publisher and ebook distributor with one of the largest distribution channels in the industry, supplying titles to over 200 retailers and 98 percent of libraries worldwide. With a catalog of works covering nearly every genre and the option for publishers to distribute their content through its network, Untreed Reads is a full-service location for authors and publishers.

*Books source ~ Many thanks to Untreed Reads for providing review copies in exchange for honest reviews.

Title ~ Big Red

Author ~ Lorraine Sears

Published ~ 9 November 2011

Genre ~ Fantasy

My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

When she was a baby Lindsay’s dad sold her to the Devil as a bride in exchange for his soul, so when Lindsay turns 21 and Big Red (her name for him) shows up and claims her as his she’s quite surprised. And not in a good way. All she wants is to live a normal life and all Big Red wants is for Lindsay to be happy. How on Earth (and in Hell) are they going to resolve this situation?

I love, love, love this story. Lindsay’s dilemma, Big Red’s dilemma and the evil that is her dad. Well-written with great characters, for such a short story I was completely sucked in from the beginning and then when it ended I just wanted it to go on and on. I will definitely be checking out more books by Lorraine Sears.

Title ~ Push of the Sky

Author ~ Camille Alexa

Published ~ 2 October 2012

Genre ~ Anthology/Fantasy

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

In this combination Fantasy/Sci-Fi anthology there are 29 short stories that are creative and interesting. Some of the stories I completely enjoyed, some were ok and some I didn’t understand, but they were all well-written. If I had to pick a favorite out of them, it would be tough since there were many that I couldn’t stop reading, but I’d say I enjoyed Matty Johnson and Echo’s stories the best. Matty is a colorful Texan traveling to Mars and Echo is the android unit assigned by her father to protect her. But it goes so much farther than that. Wonderful and imaginative!

Title ~ Jack of Hearts

Author ~ Robin F. Gainey

Published ~ 29 June 2012

Genre ~ Fantasy

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

Shimoni is the noble dog of an Italian Conte and Contessa. Given to the Contessa as a present in happier times, Shimoni is now witness to the Conte’s affair and the Contessa’s discovery of it. He does not want to end up like his friend Greta and her woman who were reduced to poverty when she and her man divorced. So Shimoni is doing his doggy best to keep his Conte and Contessa together.

This story is told entirely from Shimoni’s point of view and confirms what I’ve always said, that dogs are highly intelligent and if they could talk we humans would find that out. Ok, I know this is fantasy and we’ll never know what goes through a dog’s head, but this story is so believable that I’m looking at my own dogs (and cats, for that matter) in a whole new (and possibly suspicious) light. What are they plotting, eh?

In any case, the writing is superb, the plot keeps me turning the pages to see how it’s resolved, the characters are fully fleshed out and the ending… What, you thought I would give away the ending? The only problem I had with this story is it seemed to be overly long. But I loved Shimoni, his daily ruminations and machinations and everyone he came into contact with was fuel for his story. If you ever wanted to experience what it is like to be a dog, then this is about as close as you’ll get.