(Late) Top Ten Tuseday

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. For more information and a list of past and future topics, go here.

Alright, thought it was about time I took part in Top Ten Tuseday! After all who doesn't like lists? Especially top ten lists! Anyway, this week's is authors that I'd put on my auto-buy list! I have quite a few (and some new ones I discovered through running this blog, so let's get started shall we...?

The Tease: Nikki M. Pill

Title: The Tease 
Author: Nikki M. Pill
Stand Alone or Series?: Series (First Book in Darling Killer Series )
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Publisher: Self- Published
Publish Date: January 7th, 2013
Cover Design: Drake Mesfestta
Pages: 164 (.acsm file)
ISBN: 1481938509
Obtained: Review copy obtained for free from Net Galley. 

Synopsis obtained from amazon.com: Anna Zendel is your average 32-year-old therapist, stressing about clinical exams and struggling to recover from an abusive relationship. But at night she transforms herself into the saucy burlesque dancer Velvet Crush, enchanting Chicago audiences with the art of the tease.

As Anna struggles to keep the therapy and burlesque worlds separate and get over her crush on the troupe's emcee, a new danger threatens women across the city. The papers have dubbed him the Darling Killer, because after strangling his victims, he scrawls the word "darling" on their skin.

When one of Anna's fellow dancers is murdered in the dressing room, she realizes that Darling Killer could be closer than she thought. Could Max, Anna's new therapy client who confessed to fantasizing about dead girls and obsessing over the Darling Killer, have anything to do with the murders?

As more women are murdered, and Anna begins receiving mysterious gifts, this burlesque dancer pits feathers and sequins against foul play in the deadliest dance of all.

This review contains spoilers.

Exiles of Arcadia: Legionnaire: James Gawley

Title: Exiles of Arcadia: Legionnaire  
Author: James Gawley
Stand Alone or Series?: Series  
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Publish Date: February 5th, 2013
Book Trailer: here
Pages: 114 (kindle)
ASIN: B00BBFP1LG
Obtained: Review copy obtained free from Library Thing.

Synopsis Obtained from amazon.ca: 'Exiles of Arcadia' blends history and fantasy to create a world that is as real as the past and as personal as childhood.

Primus Seneca has lived most of his life in exile. Ten years ago his father led an army against the ruthless tyrant Tiberius–and was crushed. Now the general plans his revenge from the snowy heart of the Boreal forest, and sixteen-year-old Primus is eager to join his father’s legion. But once he is sworn in, Primus begins to unravel family secrets that will shake his faith in the cause, his father, and the very nature of the gods.

'Legionnaire' is the literary debut of author James Gawley, a PhD student in Classics at the University at Buffalo. Read more at www.exilesofarcadia.com.

"Pray all you like. You cannot command the gods."

This review contains spoilers

Proximity: M. A. George

Title: Proximity 
Author: M. A. Geogre 
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Stand Alone or Series: Series, the next book is called Relativity.
Publisher: Createspace
Publish date: October 3rd, 2012
Pages: 313 (pdf)
ISBN: 1480016934
Obtained: Review copy obtained for free from Library Thing.

Synopsis obtained from Goodreads.com: Dr. Palta Capal would be a typical American career woman…if only she were human.

She has found her calling in this world as a physician. It’s an ideal outlet for her compassionate spirit...and unearthly healing powers.

Palta may spend her nights rereading Jane Austen novels, but she deliberately avoids pursuing her own love story. Human men — attractive as they may be — inevitably grow old and wither, leaving her to grieve in solitude. Frankly, no one has seemed worth the torment.

Enter Eric Moran, the intensely attractive and enigmatic new coworker on the scene. With his quiet confidence and warm smile, he manages to draw Palta’s attention. Little does she know that he, too, holds a secret…one that will propel them both into an escalating collision of two worlds.

This review contains spoilers.

The Unfading Heiress: Walter Dinjos

Title: The Unfading Heiress 
Author: Walter Dinjos  
Stand Alone or Series?: Series (Book One in the Soul Switch Trilogy)
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Publish Date: November 23, 2012
Pages: 526 (pdf) 
ASIN: B00ACB8BYY
Obtained: Review copy obtained free from Library Thing.

Synopsis obtained from amazon.com: In a land where death transcends time and space, a Ghostly War is being raged against the living. Late King Eldorman has the power to end this war, but he wants justice for his beautiful murdered daughter Arengel.

However, Arengel’s destiny lies once again with the living, when she falls in love with Adel, a lowly Earmburgian. Finally, the prophecy of The Man with the Red Aureole will come to pass, but Arengel needs an earthly body to fulfil it.

The journey that Adel must take to help Arengel will not only test his strengths to the limit but also that of his close friendship with Jeofren, a fellow Earmburgian. It is a race against time through dark and magical landscapes, and even when the task seems fruitless, Adel must see it through to the end.

The Unfading Heiress is ultimately a story of ghostly love, human greed, friendship and honour set amid a raging war between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.

This review contains spoilers.

Foreseen: Terri-Lynne Smiles

Title: Foreseen
Author: Terri-Lynne Smiles
Stand Alone or Series?: Series (The next book is due out in June)  
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: PlotForge
Publish Date: July 3rd, 2012
Cover Artist: Daniel Brewer
Pages: 309 (kindle)
ISBN: 1937979059
Obtained: Review Copy obtained for free from Library Thing.

Synopsis obtained from Amazon.com: Untraceable control.

The Rothston Institute can manipulate the choices of anyone in the world: you, senators, anyone. Fortunately, it has the self-discipline to use this power to keep humankind safe. Stopping wars, averting crises, advancing peace.

Unfettered power.

To accomplish these feats, their operatives must train, and college student Kinzie Nicolosi has just become one of them. A student missing an exam? A construction worker fired for an industrial accident? A Congressman ruined in scandal? Necessary consequences of honing their skills for the greater good.

Unintended victims.

But Kinzie brings more than her remarkable skills to Rothston. She bears an unexpected power that rivals Rothston’s own. And when she stumbles onto the real intentions of Rothston’s leaders, the clash may be something none of them can control.

This review contains spoilers.

Chloe and the Half-World: Neon May

Title: Chloe and the Half-world (Slumberland Station Book 1)
Author: Neon May
Stand Alone or Series?: Series (Chloe and the Hollow House - Due out in Spring 2013)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: House of Subdivisions
Publish Date: August 10. 2012
Pages: 142 (pdf)
ISBN: 0615671098
Obtained: Review Copy obtained free from Library Thing.

Synopsis Obtained from Amazon.com: If her father finds out Chloe plays with ghosts after school, she’ll be grounded forever. Why? Because for Chloe, playing with ghosts means racing them from rooftop to rooftop across the Manhattan skyline. Not to worry; when you’re fourteen, you’re immortal, so what could possibly go wrong?

Well, let’s see…

Being asked by a ghost for directions and becoming the target of a seventeen-year-old assassin? Having to ride an actual ghost train and save a friend who never existed? How about befriending the scariest clowns you’ve ever met or learning your father may be a mad scientist and your life a lie?

Now Chloe is left with only one choice: enter the Half-World and seek out the truth that lies beyond reality—if there’s such a thing as reality, of course.

This review contains spoilers.

A Gentlewoman's Chronicles: Michael Coorlim

Title: A Gentlewoman's Chronicles
Author: Michael Coorlim
Stand Alone or Series?: Series (The Complete Triology in one book)
Genre: Action/ Adventure (Steampunk)
Publisher: Pomoconsumption Press
Publish Date: October 30th, 2012
Pages: 115 (pdf)
ASIN: B009YZ9CMO
Obtained: Obtained Review Copy free from Library Thing.

Series synopsis obtained from Author's website: Chronicles of a Gentlewoman is an action-packed thriller series set in an alternate history Victorian steampunk world. This collection of three novelettes takes gentlewoman Aldora Fiske all the way from London, to the jungles of Mexico, to the Ottoman Empire.

This review contains spoilers.

New Hope City: SunHi Mistwalker

Title: New Hope City
Author: SunHi Mistwalker
Stand Alone or Series?: Sequel to a short story called "The Shelter".
Genre: Dystopian Novel
Publisher: Smashwords
Publish Date: Jan. 24, 2013
Pages:  168 (pdf)
ASIN: B00AF2D3HA
Obtained: Review copy obtained free from Library Thing.

Synopsis Obtained from Amazon.com: Life in economically and socially collapsed America has taught 14-year-old Sunni Brown more than a few tough lessons 1) Life sucks,2) People suck too, and 3) You can't trust your own flesh and blood relatives even if your ability to keep breathing, eating and living depends on them. 

Sunni's move to New Hope City, a town known more for its former glory than its current corruption, is supposed to give her a fresh start. But like so many things in Sunni's life, her  fresh start is soiled by those seeking to exploit her. Corrupt cops. Ruthless gangsters. Ambitious youth with dreams of ill-gotten fortunes. They all seek to lift themselves at Sunni's expense.  It's only Sunni's street smarts and a strong distrust of people that keeps her one step ahead.  But not without a cost. Something is brewing inside her -- a bit of hate, a touch of rage and a large dose of righteous indignation. For Sunni, life in New Hope City is filled with injustice that she's powerless to fight. But when she crosses paths with a disillusioned cop, will her growing outrage and his desire to change a rotten city transform her from helpless victim to vigilante outlaw?

This is the full-length novel follow-up to "The Shelter."

This Review contains spoilers.

Next Year in Israel: Sarah Bridgeton

Title: Next Year in Israel
Author: Sarah Bridgeton (www.sarahbridgeton.com)
Stand Alone or Series?: First book in a series. Followed by 'This Year at Home'
Genre: YA (Contemporary)
Publisher: Smashwords
Publish Date: May 29th, 2012
Pages: 174 (pdf)
ASIN: B0087DZAIE
Obtained: Review Copy Obtained from Library Thing 

Synopsis Obtained from the author's website: "Rebecca Levine is tired of being a victim, after years of being relentlessly bullied at school and after her loser-outcast image pushed her to a suicide attempt. Home from the hospital and determined to survive, she wants an emotional makeover, and a study-abroad program in Israel seems like the perfect place for it to happen. But when roommate issues crop up, Rebecca is convinced she’ll become the school loser again. Can she overcome her issues and make herself over?"