Friday Featured Spotlight ~ Curiosity Quills Press & 3 Reviews

At Curiosity Quills Press, we believe a book is a portal to another world, a break from reality that frees both mind and spirit. We want to bring a little piece of that magic to every life we touch with the written word.

W. Somerset Maugham once said, “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”

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

Title ~ KIYA: Mother of a King

Series ~ KIYA Trilogy, #2

Author ~ Katie Hamstead

Published ~ 25 October 2013

Genre ~ Historical

Pages ~ 234

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble out of 5

At the behest of her husband the Pharaoh Queen Kiya has fled Armana with her children and the daughter of another wife who died protecting her. With only the Hebrew guard Malachi to protect them the journey is perilous as they need to stay off the well-traveled roads and cross the desert to Thebes. Queen Nefertiti and her father Ay will do anything to make sure Kiya and her son Tut, the true heir to the throne, ends up dead. Kiya and crew must make it to her family and stay hidden until the death of the sickly Pharaoh and Tut is old enough to rule. Life in the royal family in ancient Egypt is dangerous and treacherous, but with Malachi and her family as protectors outside of Armana and Commander Horemheb as a protector inside Kiya is determined to persevere for her son’s sake.

There is a lot that goes on in this book. It’s well-written, the characters are great and the plot is believable for the time period. I know it’s historical and that people married young back in the day. I mean, way waaaaaay back in the day, but a nine-year-old boy marrying a 20-year-old woman is ewwwww. Of course, that’s nowhere near as bad as a father marrying his daughter, but it’s still hard to read about and not want to call the police. What were these people thinking back then?!

Anyway, why anyone would want to be the Pharaoh and be in constant danger of assassination, backstabbing and deceitful machinations is way beyond me. Is the power of the throne that great of a compensation? Poor Tut doesn’t have a choice. He’s definitely, even at nine, better than Smenkhkare or Ay though. The story of Kiya and Tut is very creative and since I never really liked history, much more exciting for me to learn than anything that is actually out there about them. Which isn’t a whole lot.  I’m looking forward to the conclusion.

Title ~ Negative Space

Author ~ Mike Robinson

Published ~ 17 August 2013

Genre ~ Horror/Mystery

Pages ~ 169

My Rating ~ 3 bites and a nibble out of 5

It’s 1992 and Max Higgins is a painter in L.A. He finds the inspiration for his paintings from missing people. After he is interviewed for an art magazine his whole life is turned upside down. For better or worse? Only Max knows.

The story itself about Max and his life is interesting, but all the art talk was beyond me. Everything that every character said about art went right over my head, so that’s why, even though I enjoyed the basics of the story, I gave this a lower rating. I’m just not that big a fan of art and art talk, I guess. Also the story is well-written, Max is a well-developed character and the secondary characters are pretty good, but I totally didn’t like the ending. I have a feeling this is one of those books with a ‘deeper’ meaning that I just don’t fathom. Ah, well. Give it a go and tell me what you think.

Title ~ The Strong Brain

Author ~ Nathan Yocum

Published ~ 31 October 2013

Genre ~ Horror/Mystery/Paranormal

Pages ~ 178

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

Simon Craig hears voices, but he’s not crazy. He’s an alcoholic, drug addict, smoker and sort of private detective, but definitely not crazy. The only voices he doesn’t hear are the ones of the dead. The dead don’t speak. When Detective Tanner comes to him for help in finding the daughter of a local crime boss Simon agrees. However, what should have been a routine and easy job for him soon turns into a nightmare of epic proportions changing Simon’s life in ways he never could have imagined.

Well-written with plenty of action this is a great psychic story. Simon Craig is one interesting dude and then to find out he’s not unique? Fantastic! Damsel is downright scary and tragic. The Benefactor is truly evil. I love how this story went from routine to shit with only a touch of Simon’s hand on Pauline. One little innocent thing and BAM!  I loved how Simon’s psychic connection is described, but Damsel’s confused me a lot of the time. Very little is said about the Benefactor.

Set in 1952, I’m not sure this story would have been as good set in current times. People are more apt to believe in psychics nowadays and with the digital age it would have been a lot harder for the people in this story to get away the things they did. The ending was very interesting and I’m wondering if we’ll see more of Simon Craig. I certainly hope so. I would love to ride along with him again.