CJ Brightley's Things Unseen Reveals What's Hidden Beneath the Surface

It's urban fantasy time, again!

What are the things 

Just beyond our perception?

Cruel Creatures out for blood?

Or beautiful beings hunted toward extinction?

Both?!

Things Unseen is the first book in the A Long-Forgotten Song series, an urban fantasy written by C.J. Brightley.

So what's it about?

Aria Forsyth is frustrated. She became a history major because she wanted to understand the past. Unfortunately, the last paper she wrote that deviated from the norm earned her an F. Her professor refused to grant anything more to a paper so full of unsubstantiated, unpatriotic drivel. It didn't matter, of course, that everything within the paper was cited, and that she had given opposing viewpoints, rather than proclaiming those words as truth.

That yearning for knowledge of history was clearly bad for her future. More so, however, her curiosity turned out to be bad for her health. After overhearing a conversation in a bookstore, Aria found herself unable to keep from paying attention to a man whose very presence was strange. Anything deemed unusual should be pointed out to the authorities, but Aria couldn't help but follow him so that she could learn more. Little did she know, her decision would change her life forever...

Brightley gives us a world in which people's knowledge clashes with the truth. Even things people remember are false. There's a whole world that goes unseen by the majority of the human population. People believe what the authorities tell them, never questioning what lies beneath the surface.

Hmmm... sounds kind of like our own world, doesn't it?

Ok, ok... I realize I'm being a bit of a cynic here, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Brightley was trying to point out this very issue.

Or not.

It's very possible that I'm trying to dig a little too deeply beneath the surface. Like Aria. Of course, Aria's curiosity leads her toward the truth, so maybe I'm not so wrong here. Hmmm...

Brightley takes us into a world where the government was toppled a few decades prior. "Things are better" now, of course. Nobody has any reason to doubt that.

No reason that they understand, anyway...

And therein lies the problem within Aria's world. People believe in their government wholeheartedly. They have no doubts. The government protects them, keeps them happy, and makes their lives comfortable.

That is, as long as they're not too curious...

Unfortunately for Aria, she is.  When she meets a man named Owen, one that very clearly doesn't seem to belong, she discovers that much of what she thought she knew was wrong. Not only is there more to the world than she thought,

There are more than just humans.

Owen isn't human. Rather, he's fae. He's stronger, faster, and older... older than any human, though he appears to be relatively young. He's also trying to save his entire society from the human government, which is trying to eradicate them... and they're doing a rather good job of it, too.

Aria finds herself drawn not only to Owen, but also to his cause, and soon she finds herself in a deadly battle with the human authorities and their experimental pets.

Brightley created a vivid world with vivid characters.

She took pieces from several different myths and legends in order to create the fae within these pages. These are not the fairies that you're accustomed to, with flitting wings and mischievous giggles. They're strong, they're rough around the edges, and I never saw a single wing flitting about.

Brightley did something different with their creation, and I strongly recommend that you discover the intricacies of the species of fae that she designed.

The characters are well fleshed out and easy to relate to. Even the fae, whose entire society has different rules from our own, can be sympathized with. You don't just like her characters... you really like them. And the ones you dislike? They'll truly disgust you.

This work is well worth reading, and I look forward to the next book in the series, 

Things Unseen can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

Darren Simon's Guardian's Nightmare Totally "Gets It."

Protecting two worlds

From total chaos and suffering

At the hands of a ruthless and powerful sorceress.

That's not too much to ask of a middle-schooler, right?

Cover Design by Kenneth Tupper

The YA urban fantasy Guardian's Nightmare is the first installment of the Last Princess of Latara series, written by Darren Simon.

So what's it about?

Charlee just moved to San Francisco. She's thirteen, the new kid at school, and feeling pretty miserable about it. In an effort to make her feel better, Charlee's father decides to give her a bike that he discovered at the college campus where he works. Unfortunately, it's an old, rusty thing... and she hates it. He may call it a "classic," but she sees it as yet another thing to set her apart from everyone at her new school. Even worse? No matter how hard she tries to get rid of the thing, it mysteriously returns to her. 

And now she's having nightmares. The everything-about-them-seems-real kind of nightmares. Can things possibly get any worse??? As a matter of fact, yes. They can... and they do.

I really liked this one. 

Charlee was, to put it in a rather egotistical manner, me at age thirteen. Charlee didn't even come close to being perfect:

She was never sure of the right thing to say or do, second-guessing herself. 

She felt as though life was going to swallow her whole. 

She didn't have the perfect body. 

She was constantly upset at her parents, even when she didn't need to be.

And she just couldn't seem to fit in.

In other words, she was a normal middle school girl.

Darren Simon totally got it. It felt as though he understood exactly what it was like to be a girl going through puberty. 

Middle school sucked. 

I'm not sure I've ever met a single girl that disagrees with that statement. Nobody walked with confidence, we all had pimples erupting like ant holes shooting out from the main colony, and we were all miserable a good portion of the time. If you don't remember feeling that way... you blocked it out.

Simon clearly didn't block it out. He brought it all out loud and clear, and held nothing back.

And then he added some extra stress into the equation.

Like Charlee's discovery that she has a pivotal role to play in the battle to bring down a powerful sorceress bent on destroying everything she loves dear. She's a guardian of the gateway between worlds... and she may be the last one. And the evil sorceress? It's her great-aunt.

And we think we have problems!

Charlee doesn't handle it all with pizazz. She gets herself and others into trouble. She constantly messes everything up. She has absolutely no clue what she's doing, and it's pretty obvious.

But she has guts.

Even though everything is way above her head, and even though she has absolutely no idea how to make things right, she tries. Charlee pushes through, intent on not giving up.

I really flipping like that girl.

It's not a perfect book, though, understand. While Simon truly creates a character that anyone can identify with, there is one thing about this story that really bugged me.

The dialogue felt wrong. 

While each statement made by a character made sense, and I have no desire to say otherwise, the dialogue felt forced, as though the author was trying to convey too much with each statement. I wouldn't have been able to read the discussions within this ebook out loud. They just wouldn't sound true.

I know. I tried it.

Keep in mind, though, that I'm a dialogue fiend. I mean, I minored in theatre in college, just so I could spend time with all of the glorious dialogue within each play. I love dialogue, and it makes me picky.

The narrative within Guardian's Nightmare, however, was spectacular. 

There was never a dull moment. Scenes were vivid, and even the grammar was spot on - not a single error. I never once doubted the use of any words within the narrative text. It was all right.

And as I mentioned, Charlee was easy to identify with. She was 100% real.

Guardian's Nightmare can be found on Kindle and Nook.

Shayla Morgansen's Chosen Makes Magic Real!

Magic isn't a myth.

It isn't something that defies logic.

It's actually rather scientific.

At least, that's the impression this latest ebook gave me. Magic was logical, followed specific rules, and even seemed to fit within the laws of science.

In a word, refreshing.

Chosen is the first installment of the Elm Stone Saga, an urban fantasy series written by Shayla Morgansen.

So what's it about?

The White Elm Council has governed over those with magical powers for centuries. Their rule has been a peaceful one, leading its people toward the light side of magic, forbidding the practice of the dark. Now, they're taking it a step further. They've decided to open an academy to train young sorcerers and sorceresses to fulfill their magical potential. Those with the right qualifications will have the possibility of apprenticing with one of the councilmembers, meaning that one day, those individuals may become part of the White Elm Council, as well.

It's a great opportunity, and when the Council Scrier, Qasim, offers Aristea the chance to become an academy student, she wholeheartedly accepts. She has always dreamed of becoming a scrier, even though she has never once been able to scry... well, anything. 

Things don't go quite as she expects them to once she begins her studies, though. One night, she breaks magical law (unintentionally, of course), and considers herself lucky that all she got was three weeks of detention with the headmaster, a man with a dark and mysterious past. There's something familiar about him, though she's never before seen him...

In Morgansen's world, magic exists alongside modern technology. Only those with magical talent, however, know about it. They use their power for Good, rather than Evil.

Or, at least, most of them do.

A former member of the White Elm Council, Lisandro, has gone rogue and manipulated two other councilmembers into following him. His plan? To create a new governing structure with himself at the helm. Cruel and driven, Lisandro will do anything to make this happen. Murder is an acceptable option.

Naturally, Aristea finds herself caught up in this power struggle.

And her personality?

She's complex and real. She wants to do something. Something big. Something important. Yet... she doesn't believe in herself. Overcoming self-doubt is a theme throughout this novel, and Aristea's struggle is one that we've all faced at some point in our lives.

Morgansen makes us believe in Aristea. We believe in her magical potential, her intellectual potential, and especially, we believe in her heart. We know she'll be great. We know that her heart is always in the right place...

But she doesn't.

And that makes her real.

And while we're on the subject of reality...

Morgansen does a spectacular job of making magic itself appear real. It seems quite clear that she has a tremendous amount of scientific knowledge that she draws from to make this happen. Whether she has a background in science, or not, that I don't know.

But she clearly understands scientific processes and theories.

We see this in the instructors of the White Elm Academy. The reader is privy to bits and pieces of lecture that feel very much like real classroom lectures... though more interesting because, well... magic!

Morgansen explains simple concepts, such as the idea that magic cannot be created or destroyed. Merely borrowed, modified. Sound familiar?

Yep. Energy.

Throughout the ebook, in fact, she draws on science in order to create magic, lending it credibility. It was something I found exciting, as well as engaging. She spends a lot of time on theory, rather than trying to impress the reader with awesome spells.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of those... but they wouldn't have been nearly as impressive without the theoretical lectures and explanations of the processes involved.

They are what made the magic so true.

Those theories and processes made it feel as though the reader could perform magic... if only we had that talent.

This ebook was wonderfully engaging, and I highly recommend it. Morgansen has a great ability to bring fiction to life.

Chosen can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords, as well as Scribd.

Brandi Leigh Hall's Tethered Gripped Me Tight!

I knew it. Knew it!!!

But I won't tell you a thing.

Why?

Because that would be Spoilers! And all of you know how much I hate those...

What am I babbling about now? Well, you'll just have to read this latest ebook to find out!

Tethered is the first installment of the urban fantasy BirthRight series, written by Brandi Leigh Hall.

So what's it about?

For the last six years, Chloe has been living with her aunt, and far from the majority of her family. After the sudden death of her parents, she needed to get away from everything - especially the mystical talent that caused her to see them as they died in a car crash when she was only thirteen years old. She's worked hard at putting her past behind her, attempting to keep her ability as a seer from coming to the surface.

But now her beloved grandfather is in the hospital, about to undergo a risky procedure. Chloe and her aunt race back to lend their support, and Chloe is forced to deal with the past, as well as the guilt she feels for abandoning her remaining family. As if that isn't enough, while in the hospital she meets what appears to be the perfect man, her powers as a seer grow even stronger, and it's revealed that she and the rest of her family are at the center of a prophecy.

Chloe can no longer hide from her unusual life, and that terrifies her.

While not a "thinking book," this was definitely a good one.

This is one of those ebooks that give the reader an easy escape from reality. Hall takes the reader by the hand, leading them from scene to scene with ease. The story is remarkably fluid, making it simple for a reader to jump into Chloe's world. Tethered is definitely light reading.

The characters are extraordinarily likeable. 

Each has his or her own unique personality, causing the reader to pick favorites. Of course, these favorites changed from one scene to another, in my case, but that only added to their believability. People do and say things we like and dislike, after all, and our feelings toward them often tend to be colored by those statements. They're changeable... and Hall did a great job of bringing this out in Tethered.

Dialogue wasn't perfect, of course. I did roll my eyes a few times when some of the snarky comments fell a little flat. But then... I do that in real life, as well, so this is hardly something to shake my head over. 

And then there was the idea of predestination.

I'm not big on fate, believing that being predestiny removes free will from the equation. If you're destined for something, after all, your personal choice is meaningless. Predestiny is a running theme throughout this ebook, which naturally makes me a bit edgy.

But Hall pulls it off.

There were times that I got annoyed, of course, with statements like, "It's destined, after all" causing me to gnash my teeth. It felt like a cop-out.

But!

If you were at the center of a prophecy, and if something foreseen occurred - whether you like it or not - might you not react in this manner, as well? Sure, it feels like simply succumbing to the inevitable, even giving up on the idea of your own free choice... but it's realistic. And really... I think I prefer this to the idea of fighting destiny and having it play out, anyway. I mean, we do see that quite a bit.

Instead, Chloe recognizes that the prophecy will occur. Rather than fighting it, she concentrates on making it work out in her favor. I kinda like that.

And!

Free will isn't removed from the equation, as I may have led you to believe with all of my ranting. Chloe's visions of the future, after all, are malleable: If you see the future, you can act to change it. Sure, the prophecy has been predestined, but the individual events leading to it? Those can be changed.

So my overly critical brain was soothed.

I even found my eyes tearing up at one point. Hall scored some major points with that one! Really, this ebook was fabulous. Unfortunately, I think the author needs to go through another round of proofreading. There were many flaws centered around the letter s, and many of those dealt with apostrophes, as well. There were also a few too many italicized words, which caused otherwise perfect dialogue to feel stilted.

(You see what I did there?)

Overall, though, with just a bit of cleanup, this work would be exceptional. Reading the author's comments, however, tells me that she already knows this could use a few minor changes. It also makes me think that she could very possibly roll out an update in the future that would fix every one of the technical issues mentioned.

So while the technical aspects aren't ideal, this ebook is definitely worth looking into. If you want some light reading with a strong romantic quality to it, pick up Tethered. It's definitely worth the read!

Tethered can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

Melissa Wright's Bound By Prophecy Kept Me Spellbound!

Ready for a smashingly good urban fantasy?

Great! Because I just read one that you won't want to ignore.

I have yet to discover the cover artist's name.
Whoever it is, though, the work is great!

Bound By Prophecy is the first installment within Melissa Wright's Descendants, an urban fantasy series.

And it's FANTASTIC!

So what's it about?

Aern has one primary focus: to protect the Chosen at all cost. A devastating war is about to begin, as foretold by prophecy, and one girl holds all hope for everyone. That girl is safely hidden, but Aern is being hunted by the enemy. To top it off, he has managed to find himself stuck with the Chosen's sister... a strong, independent young woman who will stop at nothing to keep her sister safe. Aern realizes that if they don't work together, she could be used to draw the Chosen out from hiding. If that happens, everyone is doomed...

Wright's storytelling ability is fabulous. 

Bound By Prophecy kept my interest from the very first paragraph until the very end. The pacing of this ebook kept me at rapt attention throughout, ensuring that I ended up with leftovers for dinner, since I couldn't be bothered to take times away from it to do something as silly as prepare food that would require me to remove my eyes from the pages.

Her characters were all believable, but what I really loved about them was that they had real flaws: flaws that you would expect anyone to have. These quirks added to the story, rather than detracting from it.

And they were very specific to the well thought out personalities in each character - including the ones that were only seen for a fraction of time.

One of my favorite characters was in a total of maybe 8 paragraphs of the entire book.

Yet I loved him. And no, he didn't take any of the spotlight away from the main characters - Aern and Emily. He couldn't. I was too focused on asking fate to make everything work out for them. Because, you know...

They're only trying to prevent an all out, brutal, and ferocious war from breaking out. 

As you may gather, this ebook packs a great deal of action within the pages. Indeed, our heroes run into non-stop trouble at every turn. There's violence aplenty.

But there is also tenderness.

Wright creates an intoxicating blend of the two, and does it with ease. Or at least, that's how she makes it look. Not too rough, not too soft. It's a mix that makes anyone happy.

It's not perfect, of course. There are a few spots in which this dialogue driven ebook is a bit narrative heavy. This upsets the otherwise equal balance...

But this is rare.

Bound By Prophecy is well worth the read. Pacing is excellent, characters and dialogue are true, and the story draws you into its grasp, refusing to let go.

Bound By Prophecy can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

The Wonderful, Strange World of Wednesdaymeter

Let's talk about something strange.

By strange, I mean an ebook that's outright weird and confusing.

Have I mentioned I love oddities?

After the author of this one contacted me, it took me about two seconds to decide I had to read it. It was obviously not your normal piece of fiction, it caused my brain to explode with question marks, and I instantly felt as though it was a piece of a puzzle that had to be solved.

What is this senseless babbling about, you ask?

Cover art by Tyler Edlin

I'm talking about Wednesdaymeter by Dean Carnby, an urban fantasy that will keep you on your toes.

So what's it about?

New Bensonville is a mundane city that thrives on conformist ideals. It's a place in which conformity is the primary focus, meant to keep citizens in check - and safe. Most people go through life in blissful ignorance, recognizing that they have everything that they need, and have no desire for more. Others, though, escape this tedious life through fruit use. Fruits and vegetables possess the ability to magically enhance the world for their users. In this altered reality, a person can move free from the restrictions of daily conformity and become capable of fantastic feats. One only needs to keep an eye out for the Polygons.

The Polygons are the hidden rulers of New Bensonville, and are responsible for the population's strict adherence to conformity, which keeps the city from dissolving into chaos. A group of people that call themselves Verdant Dawn, on the other hand, are wielding potatoes and carrots in their fight against the evil Polygons.

Pearson, on the other hand, is just some poor guy that finds himself stuck in the middle of this battle. He's nothing special - not a fruit user, not a strict conformist. He's just... Pearson. Boring, detail oriented, passive Pearson. 

But then he discovers that he has the ability to draw magical crosses using the colors that surround him, and borrows a friend's entire drawer of colorful panties in order to have a source to draw this power from (Hey! They're colorful, small, and easy to pack. Give the poor guy a break!). His world will never be the same...

See? I told you this book was odd!

To be honest, it took me a while to really understand what was happening in this story. The prologue was a crash test of sorts: It tested my ability to adapt to strange and unusual concepts. In my defense, I'm not used to talking about geometric shapes as though they are sentient. I'm not used to recognizing the evil inherent in an octagon... especially gray ones.

This isn't the easiest ebook to read, but it is a great one.

Wednesdaymeter is filled with philosophical undertones, examining the human mind and how it reacts to change. It also pays attention to how change affects society as a whole. In all seriousness, I highlighted several lines throughout the story, ensuring I'd remember them.

This ebook requires that you think. 

I mean... duh. All books do that. This one goes a step further than most, however. There are quite a few quotable lines in this story, which means it has quite a few ideas within that make you want to delve deeper.

Just like the characters do.

Carnby takes the reader on a mental roller coaster, forcing them to focus not only on the story, but also on their own mind. While the world is completely fictitious, you can't help but examine real-world dynamics and reasoning.

And yearn to ride a pineapple...

Or arm yourself with an eggplant.

This is not your standard, run-of-the-mill "popular" fiction. This goes into an entirely different category. It's entirely unique, and you won't find anything similar in a bookstore. At least, I never have.

In a word: fantastic.

Read it. It won't be like anything else you've ever acquired, and that's a good thing.

Wednesdaymeter can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

A Vivid Walk Through the Dead of Night

A desperate struggle for survival

through the crime-ridden underbelly 

of the city.

Even if it only gains 

one

more

day...

of pain.

Today we have something particularly dark.

Cover Design by Mario S. Nevado
(Warning: Clicking on the link above ensures your eyes will be
pasted to your monitor until this brilliant video ends.)

Dead of Night, an urban fantasy, is the first installment of the Ghosts & Magic series, written by M.R. Forbes.

So what's it about?

Conor has a few more problems than the average person. You see, he's dying from cancer, and the treatments that keep him alive are dangerous and expensive... and illegal. In an effort to protect his loving family from the person he's had to become, he has left them and moved in with his new partner in crime, sending whatever money he can back to them so that they can be provided for. Oh, and... did I mention he's a necromancer, as well? In a world of magic, necromancers are considered a nasty blemish to be avoided and distrusted at all costs, causing him to hide this ability from his employers.

While completing his latest job, Conor stumbles onto another one - one that pays enough that he'd be able to pay for his treatments for a long while before having to worry about finding another job. Against his partner's better judgement, he accepts it, and soon becomes tangled within a political upheaval that threatens the ruling Houses, as well as civilization as a whole.

It's definitely worth checking out! 

My love of urban fantasy began with Charles De Lint, whose novels take up a rather large chunk of my home library. I've read several different urban fantasies since my infatuation with DeLint began, and I've found works that are both wonderful and awful, with many nestled within the space in between those two categories.

This one found itself on the 'wonderful' end of the scale.

Forbes has taken the science of polar reversal That's the idea that the North and South poles reverse over time... something that happened in the distant past, and slowly continues today. The best practical explanation I can give is to have you look at the difference between North and magnetic North on a compass. They're slightly different! He stretched the concept, manipulating it into the reason why magic suddenly appeared within the world of his book.

Sorry... the geology nerd in me uplifted to the surface, there. It's not my fault!

Ok, ok... I'll stop the puns...it can just be so tuff to stop, sometimes.

Ok, I'm done. For real, this time. ;-)

Anyway, in Dead of Night, Forbes took polar reversal, tweaked it, and produced a vivid environment in which technology and magic combine, giving us a realistic idea of what could happen if magic suddenly sprouted within our own reality. New viruses, fantastic and terrible creatures, power plays more devastating than anything we would see with science alone.

The world is incredibly dark, and life is tenuous. 

Trolls, elves, and goblins walk the streets alongside full humans. Werewolves are the products of a disease that transforms people into hairy, unthinking killing machines, rather than the pretty people we see on popular television. Many people escape this terrible reality by plugging into virtual MMORPGs as a way to relieve stress (Think World of Warcraft realistically surrounding you, rather than being on a computer screen).

The world that Forbes created was so intricate, so vivid, that I felt as though I was living in it. I could see the environment. I could smell the corpses. I heard the crackle of lightning. I was transfixed.

Unfortunately, there was one thing that kept me from awarding this brilliant work with Treasured Tome status: emotional disconnect.

There was one particular scene that was emotionally devastating to the protagonist. I should have been drowning in tears, or at least contemplating the idea of throwing my Nook through the window beside me. I should have been wallowing in sadness or rage. Maybe both. It was a pivotal scene. Conor was in tears.

So why wasn't I?

I'm actually not sure. I reread that portion, thinking that perhaps I was distracted, and just didn't realize it. It's possible, after all...

But that wasn't the case. I still felt distant. I wonder if, perhaps, the author emotionally disconnected himself while writing the scene? It was very intense, and there's the possibility that he didn't want to feel so vulnerable.

Or perhaps he altered this scene during editing? It's possible to "clean up" your writing so much that the emotion gets lost in the effort to fix grammatical errors.

I'm not sure. 

What I do know, however, is that aside from this feeling of emotional disconnect, the ebook was virtually flawless. It was vivid, high paced, and real. I would definitely recommend this, and I'll be keeping an eye out, waiting for the second installment to be published.

Dead of Night can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords, as well as Scribd, which is where I got it.

The Enjoyment of Being Alone with the Girl in the Box

I kinda, sorta broke a rule... accidentally.

See, I found a boxed set of 3 books that only had 6 reviews at the Nook store. This fits the guidelines, so... "Yay, me!"

Unfortunately, upon completion of book one, I discovered that the stand-alone (not-in-the-box) novel had over 120 reviews. Further research showed that the second book had 54 of them. This is well outside my guidelines.

Oops. Can we pretend I didn't see that?

No?

Well, drat. My bad. The good news, though, is that this boxed set is well worth reading.

What set is that, you ask?

Cover photo taken by Anna Omelchenko

The Girl in the Box is an urban fantasy series written by Robert J. Crane. Since I refuse to give spoilers, however, I've elected to only review book 1: Alone, with a few words dealing with book 2 (no spoilers).

So what's it about?

17 year old Sienna has lived her entire life apart from society, her only human contact being her mother. The windows of her home are all draped shut, and she has never left. Her only contact with humanity is the occasional hour of television allowed to her. One day, her mother doesn't return home. A week later she hears people in the house, which is in direct opposition to mom's rule #1: Nobody else is ever allowed into the house. In fear, Sienna fights back against the intruders and races out the front door, breaking rule #2: Never leave the house. For the first time, she has a glimpse of the outside world, and nothing will ever be the same, again.

In this book, Crane has created a rich world filled with secret organizations that keep an eye on Metas, people with extraordinary abilities that go beyond the normal human range, and Sienna is one of them.

So is her missing mother.

Crane does a spectacular job of filling a reader's mind with questions. Who and what is Sienna? Why is she so important? Who can she trust? And why in the world did her mother always demand that she remain fully clothed - with gloves - even when she slept???

Fortunately, Crane was kind enough to answer a few of these questions within Alone.

And!

He left us hanging, unable to answer the others, making the reader anxious to read book 2: Untouched.

In the beginning, I felt that Sienna was very much like Rogue of the X-Men. The similarities were strong.

However, while the world of The Girl in the Box feels rather X-Men-esque, I wouldn't brush it aside as an attempt to remake the Marvel world in the author's own image. Rather, I see it as an entirely different world with rich characters.

See, even though I originally felt it was too much like the world of X-Men, I continued reading, and the story really took hold of me. I laughed, I cried, and I was able to place myself within the world Crane created, actively taking part in the drama.

(I gave myself heightened senses and the ability to heal others, along with slightly enhanced strength. 

Because... who wouldn't want those abilities?)

Alone was a thrilling book that I'd recommend to anyone that enjoys a good superhero based read. I got through it fairly quickly, and continued on into book 2. I didn't want to leave Crane's world.

However, I would recommend taking a break between books 1 and 2, because the second book begins with a great deal of exposition that explains what happened in Alone. This is not a complaint - it's highly necessary, and the exposition is very well written.

Enjoyable.

Unfortunately, going directly into the pages of book 2 after reading book 1 caused me to skip through a lot of that narration, since my head was already happily floating through the world of the story.

So pace yourself if you get the box set. You don't want to simply skim through the narrative. It's full of personality, and deserves to be read in entirety.

The Girl in The Box Series (Books 1-3) is available in the Nook, Kindle and Smashwords stores.

If you prefer, Alone (The first book) can also be individually downloaded via Nook Kindle and Smashwords.

At the moment, the box set and the first book are both FREE, but I don't know how long that offer will last.