Staff Introduction - Tarran

Hi! My name is Tarran. 

I have been in the book industry for 13 years and absolutely love my job. I read all genres, but my favourites are Fantasy, Historicals – fiction and reference, Thrillers – Conspiracy theories and archaeological and Y/A.

I organise all the books signings and author events we have and manage the social media sites.

Some of my favourite authors are:  Tamora Pierce, Traci Harding, Jim Butcher, Michael J Sullivan, Cecelia Ahern, Steve Berry and the list goes on.............. 

I love to write and hope one day to be published. A couple of my passions are gardening and cooking so it is not unheard of to find me out in the veggie garden getting ingredients for meals.   

So hello, (waves to all our followers.) We have a huge line-up of upcoming events with authors such as Alan Baxter, Janeen Brian, National Bookshop Day and Andy Griffiths.

It was nice to meet you all :D I hope to see you in the store one day!

Book Review - Bound by Alan Baxter

Bound by Alan Baxter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

DUE JULY 2014

I had gone off Urban Fantasy lately. It all seems the same and all the plot lines tend to blend, but not this book.

Bound is the first book of the Alex Caine series by Alan Baxter. We start off in Sydney, then London and then all over the world. We are introduced to characters from Mythology and a new species of Fae. Alex Caine is a martial artist who makes a living off cage fighting. Then after a set of circumstances forces Alex to leave Australia, he then becomes bound to a dark grimoire which incites Alex to embrace his darker nature. He teams up with a Kin woman(the new Fae) and together they search for a way that Alex can be rid of the grimoires curse.

There is a lot of action and the story flows really well. Some of the characters are really evil and the author writes them convincingly. I found some of the sex scenes between the antagonists a bit silted but the rest of the book was well written. This book makes you want to get to the end to see just how Alex goes about getting rid of the book, does he survive? does he bring about the end of the world?

You will just have to read it to find out, you won't be disappointed. The start to this series has given me faith that the Urban Fantasy scene is not just the same story with different characters.

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Book Review - The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was brilliant!

Set in the future but with a difference. Sometime in our past a group of British, Americans and Europeans made a crossing. Not entirely sure where, but they came to this new land and founded new countries and found magic. Fast forward 150-200 years later and we are introduced to Kelsea Glynn. She has been hidden her whole life to protect her but now she is needed to be Queen. Her country is on the brink of decline and her people are starving and desperate. There is a price on her head and she needs gain the respect and loyalty of people who have no reason to trust her.

The world is well researched and the story drives you along. Sometimes it can be a bit jarring when there are references to Earth history as you do get immersed and forget that this is actually not just a normal fantasy book. The characters are interesting and I really enjoyed seeing Kelsea and Mace's journey together.

Highly recommend this book when it is released in July. It is no wonder that this book was optioned for film rights and I wouldn't mind seeing how they portray this book on the big screen.

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Book Review - Craven by Melanie Casey

Craven by Casey, Melanie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love reading about Adelaide in a book. It is so good to finally see an Australian author writing about Australia and it is even better for them to include the best city, Adelaide.

In 'Craven', we are reunited with Cass and Ed three months after the events in 'Hindsight'. Cass has a job tutoring students and Ed is working with a new partner on a new case. After a series of strange happenings, Cass and Ed are thrown back together and Cass discovers a new side to her ability.

The characters are well written and likeable and you get to see some growth happening between them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to see where the author takes Cass and Ed next!

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