Free Kindle E-book: Pandora's Helix by Ken McClure

I've got a great offer to bring to you today! Ken McClure, one of my all time favorite author's is offering his novel Pandora's Helix, in Kindle format, for FREE on Amazon. I've read it many times and it is a great read for fans of medical thrillers or science in fiction. Here's the synopsis:

Check out my review's of some of McClure's other offerings - Wild Card and Lost Causes. 

Pandora's Helix can be downloaded free from Amazon UK, until June 26th, after that it is £3.20. You can also follow Ken McClure on Goodreads to be sure of catching future offers. 

Review: Click: An Online Love Story by Lisa Becker

Click: An Online Love Story does exactly what it says on the tin. It tells the story of four friends in their quest for love (or in some cases lust) through a series of e-mails. We follow PR girl Renee through the ups and downs of the dating world.

Romance is not usually my thing but I found the premise of a story told solely through e-mails intriguing. Whilst I had my doubts, this format does work well once you get used to it and the characters’ voices are clear; although there were a few occasions when I had to check the To: and From: fields to be sure who was speaking. It was also refreshing to see an indie book that was correctly formatted, complete with cover and metadata, and displayed well on both my PC and Kindle. Kudos, Ms Becker. One slight niggle though, the e-mail addresses for the online dating site are in the wrong format i.e. xxx@xxxxx.com/xxxx instead of xxx@xxxxx.com – such a tiny thing but once I noticed it once I kept noticing – which was a bit distracting. Overall though I don’t think the e-mail format will hold readers who are not IT literate back.

The plot is simple but humorous, making this a great light read. I found the e-mails from potential suitors particularly funny and at one point was laughing out loud. The characterisation is fantastic for most of the characters, though at times Shelly is a little ‘overdone’ for my taste. Renee in particular is very relatable for a young audience, and some of the situations seem to spring right from my life (making out with best friend anyone?!).

Overall, a wonderful, well crafted story with a quirky style. There is love, friendship and sex in barrels which combines to create a fun and funny novel. It doesn’t seem as long as it’s 347 pages - for me it was a quick read and an enjoyable way to spend an evening. So it gets 4.5 stars from me!

Click is available from Amazon UK for £3.20.

[Review copy provided by the author]

Fancy reading Click yourself? Well one lucky reader is going to win an e-book copy of Click: An Online Love Story courtesy of Lisa Becker! 

After following this blog enter via the Rafflecopter widget below (refresh if it doesn’t appear). You can get 2 extra entries by just commenting on this review telling me why you would like to read Click and what your funniest dating experience has been. Other extra entries can be earned a number of ways and on July 23rd , one lucky winner will be chosen at random out of all the valid entries to win the e-book. Please feel free to promote this review and giveaway on other sites! 

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Update: Review Guidelines

Life sometimes takes a funny turn, my life did several months ago and as such I have only just started reviewing again. The sheer number of review requests in my inbox upon my return was shocking and has forced me to make a change to my review guidelines.

Effective immediately I will now only review books from indie/self-published authors in the following genres: 

- non-fiction 

- crime

- mystery

- thrillers (including medical thrillers)

- action/adventure

- dystopian

- apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic

- zombie

- suspense

- espionage/military

- sci-fi with a strong science/technology/medicine focus

The genres listed reflect my personal reading interests and are genres that I read and enjoy regularly, making it more likely that I will review your book. Hopefully this change will save authors time and effort, as well as making it easier for me to get through review requests. The guidelines for agency authors remain the same.

If you are not sure if your book falls under these categories drop me an e-mail with a short synopsis and I'll let you know. 

Review: Chernobyl Murders by Michael Beres

"In a western Ukraine wine cellar in 1985, Chernobyl engineer Mihaly Horvath discloses the unnecessary risks associated with the power plant to his brother, Kiev Militia detective Lazlo. Spawned by a desire to protect his family, Lazlo investigates—irritating his superiors, drawing the attention of a CIA operative, raising the hackles of an old KGB major, and ultimately discovering his brother’s secret affair with a Chernobyl technician, Juli Popovics. After the explosion, the Ukraine is not only blanketed with deadly radiation, but also becomes a killing ground involving pre-perestroika factions in disarray, a Soviet government on its last legs, and madmen hungry for power. With a poisoned environment at their backs and a killer snapping at their heels, Lazlo and Juli flee for their lives—and their love—in this engrossing political thriller."

Chernobyl Murders was a surprising diamond in the rough. When I first started reading the book I didn’t have very high expectations but I pushed on as it was set against the backdrop of the Chernobyl Disaster. I quickly was hooked by the believable technical details and the intriguing plot; this resulted in me finishing the book in a few hours, despite the story being slow to start.  

The book follows Lazlo Horvath, a police detective in Kiev as he tries to clear his brother’s name from involvement in a supposed terrorist attack on the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station before the KGB arrest him and his brother’s mistress for involvement in the attack. This gives the story good pace once it gets going and provides plenty of action.

The book is unfortunately let down by the writing. The characters, despite having moments of tangibility, are often predictable, wooden and their voices are stereotypical; at times merge into one. This is particularly seen in the case of the two PK officers – who, for most of the book, are interchangeable and woefully unbelievable. The prose is also awkward at times and in places incredibly dull.

The ending was something that really puzzled me. Set in the present day, it involves an encounter between Horvath’s niece and a spy in modern day Kiev. It left me confused and cheapened the ending. Therefore I felt the book would have been better ending with the previous chapter.

Overall, Beres should be praised for his research and fantastic plot; these points on their own make this a great read for those with an interest in nuclear disasters, Chernobyl in particular. It would also appeal to those who like novels based around the fall of the Soviet Union, as this political change is regularly referred to for context. However the poor writing style and one dimensional characters mean that some of the trill is lost and the book leaves you feeling slightly disappointed at end.

Chernobyl Murders is available for Kindle from Amazon UK (£3.32) and for Nook from Barnes& Noble ($4.24).