M. Garnet

Your life has taken a few turns, and you know you need a change of direction, and that is exactly what Sara Donaldson thought.
She sees an ad for a bookkeeper in the little town of Benson Colorado, so she packs her few possessions and leaves Florida behind.
She gets settled in her new job, makes a few new acquaintances and as she lies one night on her bed watching the shadows of the nearby tree dance on her wall, she hears a man’s voice in her head: “Ouch. I hate this bunk. It’s too short.”
These words plunged Sara into an adventure she never thought she would experience.
Author M. Garnet has spun another intriguing story that brings elements of science fiction and romance blended to deliver a delightful story with an interesting ending.
If you like those two genres, this is a book for you.
I highly recommend this easy to read and absorbing story.… (mais)

OK, you pick up a book and read through some of the pages and figure out that the protagonist is an ex-military professional that is now working for the transportation company Shayde Transports Corporation.
Shayde Transports Corporation?
Well, that sounded intriguing and juicy to me, so I purchase the paperback and start into a fascinating read.
Our protagonist is Captain Kina Russel, a superb pilot delivering passengers until there is an issue of a stow-away.
A shadow is how Kina described it to her superiors.
That did not go well for Kina, who decided that the best solution for the company was to demote her from her ship to a new one, the Eclipse Shayde, a less glamorous cargo spaceship, but with an interesting new crew and AI.
Thinking that the demotion at least would let the stowaway (or is it a stalker?) go away, Kina relaxed.
It does not.
What was worse, during a confrontation with the shadow/stalker, he filled her mind with the idea that she could have a better life in dark space, where she would not be bound by the rules of Shayde Transports Corporation but could be free on her own ship.
What was the secret this stalker knew she needed to discover?
Will Kina take heed of the ideas that are presented to her?
Who is this shadow/stalker? Is he a friend or a foe?
Read M. Garnet’s Dark Space Secrets to find out.
You will enjoy it; I know I did and hope to read more of M. Garnet’s novels in the future.… (mais)

Witch's Curse Collection is a good series of short, supernatural, romance stories.

Witch's Curse Collection holds four short stories revolving around four brothers. Each brother has been cursed due to a wicked deed the four of them did in the past. Each man must do something selfless to be freed from his curse. When they all find women who need a little extra help, can they be selfless enough to be freed of their curse?

This series of short stories was definitely a good read, but I had many problems with it.

To begin with, I found the print of the book incredibly small. This isn't a problem with the story itself, but the font size and the font type mixed together made it difficult to read, which makes it harder to get into the story.

Next, the stories themselves. The stories moved very slowly for being short stories. I found that the drama or romance between the two main characters (A brother and a female) didn't happen until the last 75% of their stories. It would have been more interesting for these relationships to begin before half way through the stories. This problem is more of an opinion though. The slow build made it difficult for me to read.

The plots and characters were thought out well. I appreciated the original ideas the author came up with. Overall, the substance of the story is well written.

In total, I did enjoy these stories but they had little problems that make it difficult for me to read. Other readers would definitely find this book enjoyable! I would suggest it to people who enjoy: Fantasy, supernatural, romance, fiction, historical fiction, historical romance.

Three out of five stars due to the slow plots.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

End note: I also loved that this book was signed!… (mais)

Originally posted at Strange Bedfellows: PNR Reviews
http://strangebf.blogspot.com/2013/02/review-of-misty.html

To be frank, M. Garnet's writing style did not appeal to me.

The narrative style was remote and omniscient -- like reading a screenplay, which I'm not a fan of. As the reader, I spent much of the story floating above the characters, looking on, rather then getting into their heads. This made it difficult to really connect with the characters and the action. In the past, I've likened this style to watching a movie on mute -- sure, you can follow along with the story, but you can't really feel it.

What was really problematic for me, though, was the overall wordiness. Granted, they're really good words, but there was just too many of them. For example, the first few pages were overloaded with descriptions. Descriptions are nice, but the author exerted too much control over the imagery by providing every little detail. As I read the book, I chafed at the constriction. Especially since the choppy, staccato rhythm of the story was further bogged down by details that weren't strictly pertinent.

The writing loosened up a bit as the story found momentum, especially once some real dialogue began to show up. By the halfway point I was into it, but there were still some rough patches.

I hate to be all bad news, and there were things I liked about the book. Like the sex appeal, for one. Garnet did a lovely job of building up the tension and keeping it hot throughout the book. And Rad was a well-constructed character, one that really carried the story as far as I'm concerned. He totally has the BAMF thing going on, and that's always a good thing in my book.

So my ultimate opinion is that this book has good "bones" but needs polishing. It was intriguing enough that I'm curious about the second book, Minty, which comes out this February. But, please, more editing would be lovely.

This book was received courtesy of NetGalley and Extasy Books in exchange for an honest review.… (mais)