Monday, November 11, 2013

Virtual Author Book Tour ~ With Friends Like These

Series ~ Tales of Callie Walking, #1
Publisher ~ L. Hunter Cassells
Published ~24 November 2012
Genre ~ Paranormal/Short

*Book source ~ Many thanks to the author for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble out of 5

Caledonia ‘Callie’ Walking is a mage. Or wizard if you prefer that term. She freelances for clients and consults for the police. When one of her clients ends up dead, drained of his blood, she takes it personally. After all, she was the one to set the protection wards to keep him safe. Now, she needs to get to the bottom of who wanted the wards broken and why. Unfortunately, strange things are preventing her from finding the who, but when she eventually figures out that it’s Aristos ‘Risto’ Ionios, the why will be the least of her concerns. Surviving her confrontation with Risto takes top place on her To Do List.

Ah, this is a new favorite series for me. I sincerely hope I will be seeing much more of Callie. I really like her no nonsense attitude and the world in which she lives is intriguing. And I like Risto. He’s fascinating and yet, oh so dangerous. I kinda get his game, but he’s so old and powerful he could change the rules in a heartbeat and it would be Game Over. I really can’t wait to read more about him.

This story would easily be a 5-biter for me except for two things. I want some more world building. Granted, this is a short story and it did well for the space, but more would be nice. Also, the writing is a bit choppy, or maybe abrupt would be a better word. It is consistent throughout the story so I’m going to say this is the author’s style. It’s not bad, but it did take getting used to. All-in-all I finished this story wanting more, more, more. Bring on some new cases for Callie!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for taking part in the tour. I'm glad that With Friends Like These is your "new favorite series!"

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    1. You're welcome! I'm looking forward to the next book. :)

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  2. The cover is horrible but you have me interested despite the desire for more world building. Lovely review :)

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    1. I love the font, but I'm not crazy about the rest.

      Well, it is a short. There is some world building, but I would have liked some more. I guess I'm just greedy. lol Thanks! :)

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  3. Thank you ever so for your kind words! I'm quite tickled that you like Aristos; one of my later projects will be a standalone novel that is his back story.

    The font is a free one called Blade II. I wanted to use it as chapter headings and dropped-capitals, but my programs seemed to be allergic to something in its code: all kinds of weirdnesses happened, until I just deleted it from the body of the story.

    I'm curious -- "horrible"? Oh, dear. What should I tell my artist? I mean, I liked it, or I wouldn't have approved it, but there's a reason I'm a writer, rather than an artist, hey?

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    1. You're welcome! Yay! I'm looking forward to reading more about Aristos.

      I do like that font. I'm not really the one to ask about the cover since I pay little attention to them. But, for me, I like color, so the black and white is too blah. Kimba might be able to tell you more. She *loves* covers. :)

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