I want to start out by saying how much I love anything published by this author.  Heather Killough-Walden (HKW) is an amazing author that has a superb way with words.  Her words suck you in and you simply cannot escape.  Its lovely.

My copy of this book was given to me by the author herself.  She's awesome like that with people that give her honest reviews.  None of my reviews have EVER been bad, she's that good.  Honest.

So now on to the book.  "The Phantom King" is the next edition in the newest series by HKW, "The Kings".  A spin off series from her super popular Big Bad Wolf series (if you haven't' read those, you really should, serious.  Get on it)  Based on clues from the first 2 books in "The Kings" series, I am assuming we will see 13 books in this series (squeal).  In book 2, we meet The Phantom King, Thanatos. The very lonely king of purgatory.  Going by Thane, the phantom king really kinda hates his job.  Purgatory is a place for innocent and murdered souls, and Thane just hates the amount of work he has because of the violence and destruction in the world, which takes innocent lives that he is responsible for greeting upon their arrival in purgatory. Very Lonely indeed.

When a strange spirit is sent to Purgatory, only to disappear again back to the human plane, Thane has no choice but to leave purgatory and go find him.  A spirit can't just walk out of purgatory, its simply not done.  Calling in a favor to the Warlock King, Thane sets out to find his jail breaker so he can return to purgatory and his lonely lifestyle.  When he locates his missing spirit he also finds something else he needs more.

Siobhan is a woman on the run.  An unknown creature has murdered her boyfriend and she fears that they are coming after her and Siobhan, a warlock by birth, has been hiding ever since.

Together Thane and Siobhan have to find out who is after her and why, and stop them so the phantom king can claim his queen.


I never have anything bad to say about a HKW book.  The plot is amazing, the action is awesome, and of course, you have that "juicy" part that you can't put down.

Flash Gold: Book 1 in the Flash Gold chronicless

I ran across these little novella's while searching a few blogs.  Every now and then a blog will post about freebies and I'll go check em out and see if it tickles my fancy.
Flash Gold tickled my fancy.  I had heard about Steam Punk novels, but have never read one or come across one.  So this was my first, and it wont' be my last.

This book starts out in the Yukon, in the winter with an 18 year old girl living on her own and lying low to save her life.  Kali McAlister  is the daughter of an alchemist.  An alchemist that had created the world's most powerful energy source, then died.  Leaving his 18 year old daughter with the only known supply and no knowledge of how to make more.  Everyone wants this energy source, known as "Flash Gold".  Kali wants out of the Yukon.  After building her own steam powered "dog" sled, Kali enters a race, the winner gets 1000.00 .  That's enough money to get her started on her next project which will help her get away from the Yukon and all the dangers of man.  Of course, an 18 year old girl all alone on a trail during a dog sled race is bound to call attention to her.  Especially when her sled isn't exactly pulled by dogs.  Enter Cedar.  Her new "bodyguard".  What she doesn't know is that Cedar has a little secret of his own.. And its a shocker...

This was a really good read.  And for my first "Steam Punk" book I was really happy with it.  They aren't very long, Novella's usually aren't, but I think it still took me about an hour and a half or so to read each one which isn't to bad.  The price was good, the book was good, all around good.  Go for it.

Hunted: Book 2 in the Flash Gold chronicles by Lindsay Buroker

Book 2 in "The Flash Gold Chronicles"  finds Kali face to face with a very unwelcome person from her past.  Sebastian has returned and he has an ultimatum.

After returning to town, Sebastian finds Kali and tells her he has laid claim to a patch of land in this, the gold rush era.  With Kali's gadgets and tinkering ability, Sebastian offers her a job on his claim inventing devices to help him find gold quickly.  What Sebastian doesn't count on. Cedar.  The other thing Sebastian doesn't count on?  Cedar's ultimatum.

New threats arise in this installment when Kali comes face to face with her father's research partner.  The woman that helped him create Flash Gold. The woman who wants nothing more than to destroy it and anyone with the knowledge of its creation. And of course, there's Sebastian's ultimatum.  Once again, Kali finds herself risking her life to save the secret that flash gold holds.

Seems everyone has an ultimatum in this edition, which one do you think preservers?

PeaceMaker: Chapter 3 in the Flash GOld chronicles by Lindsay Buroker

Book 3 in "The Flash Gold Chronicles" finds us in the midst of building the much anticipated airship.  From scratch.  Cedar has decided to make himself scarce leaving Kali to build the airship on her own.

During a late night construction project, one of Kali's booby traps is set off and she goes to investigate which leads her to a man hanging by his ankles.  After a mild conversation, she lets him down only to be interrupted by the scream of a woman in trouble.  Running in the direction of the sound, they find a grisly scene and are now faced with a new threat, a serial killer.

In this installment, Kali and Cedar have once again teamed up.  This tie they need to stop a murderer before he can strike again, and Kali could be his next target.  Between keeping her flash gold safe and keeping herself alive, Cedar and Kali are having a little trouble taking their relationship to the next level.

 With an anticipated character finally showing up and an unwanted character showing up at the worst time, Kali might never finish her airship.

I really liked this edition.  I haven't read a steam punk novel or novella before these chronicles and I gotta say they are extremely interesting and I look forward to the next chapter.

Blood of Destiny: book 6 in the Witch Fairy series by Bonnie Lamer

Book 6 in this series was probably one of my favorites.  Xandra and Kallen have confessed something to King Dagda who at first doesn't believe them.  Why would he?  There's no proof right?  During a heated argument with her father, he looses his temper and begins to change into his animal form, the black stag.  Pissed off and annoyed at him for both not believing her and then for changing when he comes to terms with it, she begins her OWN transformation into her animal form, and what she becomes is spectacular (I won't tell you what it is though).

Now, if you read the last book "Blood of Half Gods" you would know that a certain angel has made a little deal with our witch fairy, and he's come to collect.  The first of his favors involves a few field trips where Xandra and Kallen are to find 3 fallen angels and bring them home till the second favor is called in.  With each field trip, Xandra learns a little more about different realms and cultures and we see her begin to mature a little more into her role as the prophesied witch fairy. She also gets to meet a new fallen angel with each trip and nobody has any answers about the grand scheme of things.

After retrieving the fallen angels, Xandra is once again faced with a few new foes, several ultimatums and a whole new group of lies and half truths.  What is she to believe and will her decision be the right one?  The balance of everything depends on that last answer...  Go read it to find out if the cowan realm will remain safe...  you live here, it's probably a good idea to make sure..... ;)

Blood of Destiny: book 6 in the Witch Fairy series by Bonnie Lamer

Blood of Half Gods: book 5 in the witch fairy series by Bonnie Lamer

Book 5 in the witch fairy series finds us tagging along with Xandra, Kallen, Dagda, Alita and Kegan as they travel to the village of the Giants.

As the Pooka King, Dagda is responsible for maintaining the peace in his kingdom and since the Giants have decided to start a nice little feud that is slowly escalating into an all out war, Xandra has agreed to accompany her father in what could be another witch fairy situation.

Strange things start to happen with Xandra when she learns she has a new ability.  She can teleport WITHOUT her angel wings.  Now that's impossible right?  That's what everyone else thinks, but its true.  She can teleport.  And she does, when Kallen and herself are caught in a sticky situation where King Dagda is forced to give them "the talk" she can't help but disappear out of sheer embarrassment. Where she ends up is another mystery all together.  Faced with 3 new characters, Xandra has to solve this new mystery and prevent a Giant war.   I highly recommend this book cause anticipated things come to pass and you you can't help but notice as Xandra begins to mature and accept her role as this prophesied creature.