Denicalis Dragon Chronicles Book One: Dragon’s Blood
by MJ Allaire
Published by (date): AuthorHouse (Jan 2006)
ISBN: 978-1420895919
Price: $15.00
Tags: Fiction Adventure Children SciFi/Fantasy Other
Synopsis:
What starts as an adventure in a previously undiscovered cave becomes the adventure of a lifetime. Four children from the quiet village of Uncava discover a hidden cave in the Hampa Mountain Range near their home. They begin exploring it, looking for adventure, trying to find another entrance. Instead they find something much bigger than they had anticipated – much bigger than they could have ever dreamed. Their exploration of the cave brings them face to face with mysterious creatures, unanswered questions, unexplained magic and difficult decisions. How far will you go for an adventure? How far will you go in search of your dreams? Their adventure is what dreams are made of.
Reviews:
Although set in simpler times, the characters you initially meet are adventurous and rich with tribal and family values. As the story progresses, the characters to which you are introduced have individual character, but not all can be trusted.
The story starts off a little slowly, setting the atmosphere and character development, but as the adventure begins the story quickly unfolds and the challenges that our adventurers face are many. They need to rely on their whit, cunning, and courage to take on characters with vast unyielding powers.
The conclusion of the story leaves you grasping for more. I have book two on order and can not wait for it to arrive. It is my opinion that this book is a must read for the young and old alike.
D. Lewis
Many of us have had exotic dreams during childhood where we were taken to, or discovered another world far away from the one in which we live.
Those fantasies from the imagination can include dragons, aliens, or whatever we wish to create in the world of make-believe. Imagine your exotic dream one day becomes reality? Tonia, and Diam venture out into the forest to gather chickleberries for their Mom, and suddenly they enter that exotic dream stored in the imagination as they get lost, and discover a hidden cave in their village. The girls tell their secret only to Micah, and Nicho, but not to their Mom. Then, the wild adventure begins as MJ Allaire takes the reader through the most fascinating, magical dream, beyond any child’s imagination. As four children venture out into the world of the unknown, while exploring the mysterious cave, they are determined to follow that dream. They are forced to make difficult decisions as they roam through the land of unexplained magic. Suddenly, they realize there are needs to be met as they become stronger, while facing their own fear through a dark, incredible journey. As the adventure continues, drama reaches its peak, while intelligent, cunning creatures challenge the children. Unique powers of creatures blossom, fantasy explodes like the Fourth-Of-july, and the children learn what the word trust means as they complete their courageous mission through a surprise quest, beyond their wildest dreams. I would recommend “DRAGON’S BLOOD” as an excellent read for the entire family. This novel is as mysterious as Steven Spielberg’s dazzling adventure of “The Goonies.” MJ Allaire entertains the reader on the same thrilling scale as viewing the Masterpiece “E.T.” The reader becomes inspired while following the children through the “Circle Of Life” as if we were viewing Walt Disney’s creation of “The Lion King.” The clever author leaves the reader with a question at the end, how far will you go for an adventure? “DRAGON’S BLOOD” is left open for a sequel as curiosity becomes a main target of focus. In this delightful tale, there is never a dull moment, and magical powers light-up the story as if viewing one of J.K. Rowling’s finest in the adventures of “Harry Potter.”
Geraldine Ahearn A.I.O.M.
Author of 6 books
Author Geri Ahearn, INC.
Denicalis Dragon Chronicles Book Two: The Prisoner
by MJ Allaire
Published by (date): AuthorHouse (Nov 2006)
ISBN: 978-1425966805
Price: $15.00
Tags: Fiction Adventure Children SciFi/Fantasy Other
Synopsis:
After narrowly escaping the jaws of an angry and arrogant beast, the children find themselves separated and facing difficult challenges in a strange, new world. As they work their way across unfamiliar valleys and treacherous mountains, they encounter more mysteries and strange creatures. Along the way, they also find answers to some of their questions, but these answers only lead to more questions.
– Who is ‘Little Draco’, and why is it so important that the children find him?
– How will they find each other now that their group is separated in an unfamiliar world?
– Why did the stones lose their magic?
– What mysteries lie behind Dragon’s Blood?
– Who is being held prisoner in the depths of the Castle Defigo?
– What force or forces are drawing the children east?
– Lastly and most importantly, who or what else traveled through the portal?
As the children of Uncava struggle to unravel these questions, they don’t realize they are slowly working their way towards their destiny, becoming a part of something much bigger than they could have ever imagined.
Reviews:
After falling through the portal to an unknown world, the children find themselves separated. The girls remain together but they have no idea where the boys are. When they come upon a selfish monkey, that is just the beginning of the journey.
Everyone is heading East to the castle in their separate groups, along the way they meet new creatures that either help or hinder their journey. Someone from their past is waiting in the shadows, ready to claim something that the children no longer have possession of.
Dragons are very real, and it looks like Tonia is about to live out her fantasy. Micah and Nicho are reunited in the valley of the yarnie cats. And someone or something has the prisoner of Defigo castle questioning his sanity. Everyone must work together to save this new world from the darkness that is looming all too near.
The Prisoner by MJ Allaire is the second book in her Denicalis Dragon Chronicles. With the first book fresh in my mind, this was an easy to follow story. I think that even if you read book one months before you would be able to pick up right were the first book left off. This again is a perfect young adult read, it is filled with action, adventure, and even a dragon love story… what’s not to like?
Crystal Adkins “Crystal’s book reviews” (Ashland, KY)
“The Prisoner” is the second book in MJ Allaire’s fictional, fantasy series that is indeed another Great Adventure! The reader is taken once again through another fascinating journey as the lost children desperately search for each other through the dark, land of the unknown. The girls can’t find the boys, new creatures blossom like flowers, and the children are challenged to dip into their past as they confront an unexplained mystery. Will all the children reunite again? What do they find in the castle? Can the new world be changed?
I recommend “The Prisoner” to teens, adults, and all fantasy lovers. The author adds sparks to this novel, like the Fourth-Of-July, fulfilling the reader’s curiosity, after diving into the exquisite “Dragon’s Blood.” The ending of “The Prisoner” makes the reader crave for “Dragon’s Tear.” “The Prisoner” is cleverly written, captures the world’s imagination, and the whirlwind adventure continues as the creatures come to life! This novel is as action-packed as “Men In Black.” “The Prisoner” fills the reader’s heart with memorable moments that strikes a chord in everyone, and is as breathtaking as Walt Disney’s “Swiss Family Robinson.”
Geraldine Ahearn A.I.O.M.
Author of 6 books
Author Geri Ahearn, INC.
Denicalis Dragon Chronicles Book Three: Dragon’s Tear
by MJ Allaire
Published by (date): AuthorHouse (April 2008)
ISBN: 978-1434364319
Price: $15.00
Tags: Fiction Adventure Children SciFi/Fantasy Other
Synopsis:
In the sequel to “The Prisoner”, we find ourselves traveling with the boys from Uncava. Nicho and Micah, reunited in the Yarnie village, are instructed by Katielda to head east as they continue their search for the missing girls. Unbeknownst to them, they are also on their way to answering very important questions in an adventure of a lifetime. In the beginning of their journey they speak to Boheall, an ancient and mysterious creature who first tells them a story then instructs them to go to the Dryas Forest where they must locate another creature named Teresia. It is she who will guide them safely to the edge of the large body of water that is home to the Castle of Tears. They have no way of knowing that they are about to discover an ominously dark and dangerous lake where growling, unseen creatures lurk in the shadows. Once there, the boys both sense how imperative it is for them to find some way across this water as they search for the place where the mysterious blue amulet known in the world of Euqinom as ‘Dragon’s Tear’ is said to be hidden.
Will the boys succeed in finding this very special second amulet that has already fallen into an evil sorcerer’s hands? And if they are able to find it, will they succeed in retrieving it and return it to the dragons without becoming victims of their own incredible journey? By the time you finish this, the third book in the Denicalis Dragon Chronicles series, you will be halfway through your own magical adventure!
The other books in this series are:
“Dragon’s Blood: Denicalis Dragon Chronicles – Book One”
“The Prisoner: Denicalis Dragon Chronicles – Book Two”
Happy reading!
Reviews:
In the sequel to The Prisoner, MJ Allaire takes the reader on another spectacular adventure, after the boys reunite in the Yarnie village. As the boys continue their search for the long-lost girls, they get ready for another mission to be guided home safely to the Castle Of Tears, but are totally unaware of the dangers they must confront.
Will creatures lurk in the shadows of the lake? Will they ever find the girls?
Will they be brave enough to cross the body of water, while searching for Dragon’s Tear?
If the boys find the amulet, and return it safely to the dragons, will they become victims of bumbling bad guys?
I recommend “Dragon’s Tear” to all fantasy lovers. This book is an adventure classic from start to finish. It’s packed with breathtaking black magic and a thrilling whirlpool of trials and tribulations the children must endure to survive their mysterious mission. “Dragon’s Tear” is as enchanting as “Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone.”
The author presents a triumph of imagination that lights up the pages through this magical adventure. For finishing touches, excitement builds to surprising results as bad-mannered creatures invite their way into he children’s desperate journey to safety. “Dragon’s Tear” has dazzling effects and shiver-yer-timbers thrills! A delightful, most extraordinary adventure!
Geraldine Ahearn A.I.O.M.
Author of 6 books
Author Geri Ahearn, INC.
My Blissful Life As a Submariner’s Wife
by MJ Allaire
Published by (date): Grizlegirl Productions (July 1, 2009)
ISBN: 9780981936802
Price: $15.99
Tags: Fiction Family/Spouse Memoir Other AllThingsMilitary
Synopsis:
Imagine yourself as a young mother, half the world away from loved ones as a military dependent, then compound this with the much larger challenge of raising a family by yourself because your military spouse is always gone. No amount of money can replace when an active duty military member misses some of life’s major milestones, such as the birth of a child, a baby’s first steps, or a high school graduation.
Follow one woman as she struggles to provide balance and stability to her dependent children while her husband serves his country. Her trials and tribulations will provide insight to just a few of the challenges faced by today’s military family.
Think you understand the life of a military dependent?
Think again . . .
click here for Review FAQs
Author MJ Allaire’s novel “My Blissful Life as a Submariner’s Wife” is a look at life in the Navy for families. It is based partly on the author’s personal life experiences; but it is hard to tell which parts of the story are fiction and what she actually went though in her own life. The reason is that she writes the story in such a way that it is all believable and sounds and reads like her own memoir. One soon discovers all of the emotional issues that come from being left for months at a time without your husband. There is no one there to fix things that are broken, or need repair, including personal relationship issues. Being alone with your children with no support, or help, coming from the absent father – even though he is just following orders and is doing his duty – is a very hard and difficult life. The author makes this very clear.
This book is about coping and adjusting and trying to make the best of situations that are all working against the very fabric of the family and the marriage. Even the strongest of couples under these kinds of circumstances can end up killing off a good relationship. It is a tough life for the family and Allaire paints a well written story of how this process destroys the family unit. She takes the readers on an emotional and spiritual journey. She lets us view a life torn a part by outside influences that the characters in this story cannot handle and have absolutely no control over. When reading this book I found myself totally emerged in the story. It is entertaining and insightful. A rare treat and look inside family life for military dependents – makes a good book to gift someone you know who is part of a military family.
Reviewed by Bill McDonald, MWSA Reviewer & former President (August 2009)
My Son is a Marine
by Jo Anne Allen
Published by (date):
ISBN:
Price:
Tags: Non-fiction, Iraq
Jo Anne Allen resides in Grand Junction, CO. After writing 10 fiction books, her only non-fiction, ‘My Son Is a Marine’ has received the MWSA Readers Choice Award for 2006 and has had excellent reviews.
REVIEWS:
To politicians or Americans who say Americans are warmongers, that we should not be in Iraq, or that our soldiers are mistreating captured prisoners– a reading of “My Son is a Marine” by Jo Anne Allen would melt them into silence, just as surely as if Christ were writing with His finger in the sands of Iraq. …….Semper Fi! Judith M. Wittbrodt, Suttons Bay, Michigan
Child Finder: Resurrection
by Mike Angley
Published by (date): TotalRecall Publications, Inc. (November 2009)
ISBN: 1590958292 / 978-1590958292
Price: $27.95
Tags: Fiction Adventure Spiritual/Religious Thriller Other Iraq/Afghanistan AllThingsMilitary
Author of the Month, January 2010
Synopsis:
Child Finder” Resurrection is the highly-anticipated sequel to Child Finder”, which Library Journal placed on its 2009 Summer Reads list, calling it a “compelling debut novel” and “a real find” and recommending it to readers of both mystery/thrillers and Christian fiction.
Child Finder also garnered the prestigious Silver Medal Award in the Fiction category of the Military Writers Society of America’s 2009 Annual Awards Program!
It has been a year and a half since Air Force Special Agent Patrick O’Donnell, a psychic-savant, left the federal TOP SECRET child rescue program after it went horribly off-track, resulting in murder and endangering his own family. And just when he thinks he’s comfortably put this painful past behind him, he receives a call from his mentor. The murky, shadowy TOP SECRET community where he once was center-stage has been revised, revamped, resurrected!
The government needs his psychic skills more than ever. A sick, twisted, menacing child killer is on the loose, and no one but Pat can stop him. However, Agent O’Donnell soon discovers this new nemesis is more than he bargained for. Nothing can prepare him for the psychotic genius he must fight…and the life and death cat-and-mouse game that entraps him! Once again, Pat must call upon his faith and strong spiritual connection with God to sustain and guide him, especially during his darkest hours as he battles…pure evil.
click here for Review FAQs
Child Finder: Resurrection, award-winning author Mike Angley’s second novel, is rich with sensory images and Catholic philosophy. Mixing those two very literary techniques with a bang-bang shoot-em-up tale might seem risky to some–and it is. However, Angley has created a super-hero who transcends comic-bookery while maintaining the genre’s idealistic view of good overcoming evil. He created this approach in his first book, Child Finder, but the reader will find a maturation of style and new complexity in plotting in Resurrection. In this story, not only does Major Pat O’Donnell, the psychic protagonist, talk to God and the Saints and Angels, but God and the Saints and Angels communicate back to him. It’s a nice touch.
It is a year and a half since the tragedy that sent Pat’s secret government unit into early retirement. It’s time to resurrect the department with new rules and new goals. Shortly after his return to the task of finding lost children, O’Donnell battles his evil doppelganger–a nameless psychopath who’s psychic talents rival his own. It’s a private war between two mental giants that leaves a trail of collaterally damaged victims including O’Donnell’s friend and colleague Woody Davis. As the story evolves, Angley allows his cast to grow. Pat’s young son Sean, who shares his father’s gift, steps into the fray with important information at crucial moments. General Swank’s cranky persona turns human when his grandson is kidnapped by the villain. Dr. Jasper Jacobsen is a young psychologist fresh from Berkley. His idealism, while different, matches Pat’s in intensity. In Jake, Angley creates a character that Pat dislikes but the reader loves. Finally, Pat himself evolves as he recognizes the value of alternative paths.
There’s a hint of Hitchcockian suspense — the reader knows more than the characters. The bad guy is really bad. What Pat can sense and what he can’t is a mystery, leaving the audience to scream out warnings about what’s behind that closed bathroom door. The mood is ominous and the threat isn’t only to Pat himself, but to his family and friends. If it’s so easy for Pat and the killer to see into the minds of others, shouldn’t we all be erecting brick walls around our own thoughts? Racing through corners and falling through space on the other side of a rickety climb, the novel is a tooth-grinding rollercoaster ride.
Like Child Finder, Resurrection is a general audience thriller which will also appeal to religious audiences and young adults. Fun and thought-provoking, the book can be read as a spiritual allegory or as a fast-paced action piece. Keep your bible and your valium nearby!
Review by Joyce Faulkner, MWSA President and Reviewer (December 2009)