Review & Giveaway: A Witch’s Brew by Michael Scott Clifton

A WITCH’S BREW

Conquest of the Veil Book III

By Michael Scott Clifton

Publisher: Book Liftoff
Publication Date: April 14^th, 2021
Pages: 318 Pages
Categories:

Sword & Sorcery / Magical Realism / Fantasy / Paranormal

Scroll for Giveaway!

Intent on defeating the Dark Queen and destroying the Veil, Prince Tal and Alexandria arrive at Markingham to discover a city on the verge of collapse, its people starving, and children vanishing without a trace. Hopes of launching attacks from the city against the Dark Queen evaporate. To make matters worse, the tiny breach in the Veil allows only a trickle of soldiers and supplies to pass through.

Before the city’s defenses can be restored, the Baleful, a vast army composed of melded humans and animals led by a giant centaur, sweeps across the land like locusts, leaving nothing behind.

In the midst of turmoil and conflict, the love between Tal and Alex reaches white-hot intensity. But the leader of a ragtag militia group wants Tal for herself and will do anything to get him…even strike a bargain with a child-killing witch for a potion to make her irresistible.

But every witch’s brew comes with a price.

Purchase on Amazon

Paperback – Kindle

A Witch’s Brew by Michael Scott Clifton is book three of the Conquest of the Veil series, which I am very pleased to find is not the last book of a trilogy. In true Clifton fashion, this book manages to surpass even the first two brilliant books of the series as we are further entangled in the battle between good and evil.

 

While books one and two paint the line between the two sides more obviously, I love how this book has you pondering the meaning behind “a means to an end.” Is breaking a promise so bad when you do it out of love? And are you willing to break someone’s heart over honor? Those are just a few existential questions that come to mind when I mull over this wonderful story. The other questions I had: where is the witch and what’s in her brew? Those answers come just past the halfway mark of the book. Normally that type of thing would bother me, but I was so wrapped up in the story that I did not mind at all! Clifton’s gift for painting a complete picture of a fantasy world is so great that you forget where you are and become fully immersed.

 

Escape from the Wheel left me hopelessly in love with Alexandria’s character. So beautiful but kind, delicate yet strong. And this latest book confirmed that she is worthy of all admiration. Of course, someone is bound to be jealous of such a shining light. As someone who identifies as more of a best friend than a leading lady, I felt compassion for the brash Maggie. Oh, Sir Clifton, why do you torture us with yet another love triangle in this series? My heart can only take so much! To be completely honest, you could get by without reading the first two books. But why would you? You would miss out on so much backstory and this exciting build of adventure and love.

 

I know that I will need to toughen up for the next book because things are only getting harrier for our heroine and her brave prince. Each hard-won victory has been exciting but you know that the worst is yet to come. And Clifton’s magical way with the written word assures you that every detail will be unveiled and you will see all – both the good and the bad – unwind in a cinematic cyclone.

 

The vibe of this book was interesting – sort of Game of Thrones meets Hocus Pocus. I really look forward to reading the next book, especially knowing that it will be even better than this one. If you are a fantasy reader, you definitely need to pick up the first three books of the Conquest of the Veil series so that you’re ready for book four.

by Michael Scott Clifton is book three of the Conquest of the Veil series, which I am very pleased to find is not the last book of a trilogy. In true Clifton fashion, this book manages to surpass even the first two brilliant books of the series as we are further entangled in the battle between good and evil.

While books one and two paint the line between the two sides more obviously, I love how this book has you pondering the meaning behind “a means to an end.” Is breaking a promise so bad when you do it out of love? And are you willing to break someone’s heart over honor? Those are just a few existential questions that come to mind when I mull over this wonderful story. The other questions I had: where is the witch and what’s in her brew? Those answers come just past the halfway mark of the book. Normally that type of thing would bother me, but I was so wrapped up in the story that I did not mind at all! Clifton’s gift for painting a complete picture of a fantasy world is so great that you forget where you are and become fully immersed.

Escape from the Wheel left me hopelessly in love with Alexandria’s character. So beautiful but kind, delicate yet strong. And this latest book confirmed that she is worthy of all admiration. Of course, someone is bound to be jealous of such a shining light. As someone who identifies as more of a best friend than a leading lady, I felt compassion for the brash Maggie. Oh, Sir Clifton, why do you torture us with yet another love triangle in this series? My heart can only take so much! To be completely honest, you could get by without reading the first two books. But why would you? You would miss out on so much backstory and this exciting build of adventure and love.

I know that I will need to toughen up for the next book because things are only getting harrier for our heroine and her brave prince. Each hard-won victory has been exciting but you know that the worst is yet to come. And Clifton’s magical way with the written word assures you that every detail will be unveiled and you will see all – both the good and the bad – unwind in a cinematic cyclone.

The vibe of this book was interesting – sort of Game of Thrones meets Hocus Pocus. I really look forward to reading the next book, especially knowing that it will be even better than this one. If you are a fantasy reader, you definitely need to pick up the first three books of the Conquest of the Veil series so that you’re ready for book four.

Multi Award-Winning Author Michael Scott Clifton, a longtime public educator, currently lives in Mount Pleasant, Texas with his wife, Melanie. An avid gardener, reader, and movie junkie, his books contain facets of all the genres he enjoys—action, adventure, magic, fantasy, and romance. His fantasy novels, The Janus Witch, The Open Portal (Book I in the Conquest of the Veil series), and Escape from Wheel (Book II), all received 5-Star reviews from the prestigious Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews. The Open Portal has also been honored with a Feathered Quill Book Finalist Award. In addition, Edison Jones and the Anti-Grav Elevator earned a 2021 Feathered Quill Book Award Bronze Medal in the Teen Readers category. Two of his short stories have won Gold Medals, with Edges of Gray winning the Texas Authors Contest, and The End Game, winning the Northeast Texas Writer’s Organization Contest. Professional credits include articles published in the Texas Study of Secondary Education Magazine.

Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram | Goodreads |
Amazon Author Page | Bookbub

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

THREE WINNERS!

Grand Prize:
Signed copies of all three books in the Conquest of the Veil series
+ $15 Amazon Gift Card
2nd & 3rd Winners: eBooks of A Witch’s Brew.
Ends midnight, CDT, May 28, 2021.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FOR MORE STOPS ON THE TOUR VISIT THE
LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGE,
UPDATED DAILY,
Or Visit the Blogs Directly:

5/18/21	Review	The Plain-Spoken Pen
5/18/21	BONUS Promo	LSBBT Blog
5/19/21	Review	Missus Gonzo
5/19/21	BONUS Promo	Hall Ways Blog
5/20/21	Review	Book Fidelity
5/21/21	Review	Reading by Moonlight
5/22/21	Review	Bibliotica
5/23/21	Review	The Clueless Gent
5/24/21	Review	The Page Unbound
5/25/21	Review	Sybrina’s Book Blog
5/26/21	Review	Forgotten Winds
5/27/21	Review	Chapter Break Book Blog
5/27/21	BONUS Promo	All the Ups and Downs

Book Touring Services Provided By:

Review & Giveaway: Escape from Wheel by Michael Scott Clifton

ESCAPE FROM WHEEL

Conquest of the Veil, Book Two

by

MICHAEL SCOTT CLIFTON

 

Genre: YA / Fantasy / Magical Realism / Sword & Sorcery

Publisher: Book Liftoff

Publication Date: August 4, 2020

Number of Pages: 302 pages

 

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE GIVEAWAY! 

 

New Life, New World, New Problems
Alexandria Duvalier’s new life on the magical world of Meredith takes a shattering twist when her father, the Duke of Wheel, pledges her hand in marriage to the cruel lord, Rodric Regret. Desperate to escape his clutches, Alex flees the city with the help of her friend, Tell Tollet, a handsome lieutenant in the city guard. But their freedom is short-lived when Rodric’s brutal brother, Stefan, joins in the pursuit.
Hotheaded Prince Tal, heir to the throne of Meredith, has but one goal: kill the Dark Queen and destroy the Veil, the enchanted barrier which has ensnared generations of his people. He discovers a breach in the magical wall and leads an army through, bent on completing his mission.
When an unusual and potent magic calls to him, he follows its trail back to Alex. Thrown together by circumstances and chased across the wilderness by the ruthless Lord Stefan, Tal and Alex are drawn to each other by the greatest magic of all—love. Now they just need to stay alive . . .

 

CLICK TO PURCHASE 

  

Escape from Wheel by Michael Scott Clifton is one of those rare instances where book two outshines the first. Don’t get me wrong, The Open Portal, was a beautifully written book, but it could get so grotesque at times that I needed to stop for a moment and collect myself. Not to say that the sequel is all sunshine and daisies, but Clifton strikes a perfect balance of evil and suspense with love and hope.

In the first book, I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters’ strange names, but this volume had me wishing that Clifton took them a bit further. While the reader wouldn’t mistake Tell for Tal, the names were so similar that I expected Alex to slip up at least once. But perhaps our heroine is too clever to make such a rookie mistake. 

I love how the author portrays this young woman with so much duality: a girl from our world and time transported to this ancient fantasy world, yet fitting in very well; a girl who researches and plots her own way but must rely upon a handsome man to help her stay safe. Alex might be a damsel in distress at times, but she puts up a hell of a fight and has hidden talents up her sleeve as well. 

It’s been a while since I’ve read a good fantasy book, so one thing that stood out to me was Clifton’s vivid descriptions of, well, everything. While fiction books generally rely on dialogue to propel a story, fantasy books truly build worlds in your mind, and Clifton is a master architect and painter in one. You see the lay of the land, the buildings that tower above or crumble before you, and the colorful delights of the court set and fantastical creatures in nature. As someone who loves reading about food, I swooned over the descriptions of feast fare, as well as the roughing it recipes.

While the violence was my least favorite part of the previous book, I actually enjoyed the battles in this one. The gore wasn’t excessive and I particularly liked the cunning of various traps that were set up to help even out the unlikeliest of odds. The pace was just right, until I realized that I was super invested in the story and there were only a few more pages left. Alas, it appears I will have to wait again for the next installment of Conquest of the Veil.

I recommend this book to all you fantasy lovers out there. Definitely read the first book, The Open Portal, which has a George R.R. Martin vibe to it, and then follow up with this book that has an Arthurian legend meets Hunger Games groove to it.

Multi-award-winning author Michael Scott Clifton was a longtime public educator as a teacher, coach, and administrator. Professional credits include articles published in the Texas Study of Secondary Education Magazine. He currently lives in Mount Pleasant, Texas, with his wife, Melanie, and family cat. An avid gardener, reader, and movie junkie, Michael enjoys all kinds of book and movie genres. His books contain aspects of all the genres he enjoys: action, adventure, magic, fantasy, and romance. 

 

His fantasy novels, The Janus Witch and The Open Portal, received five-star reviews from the prestigious Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews, and he has been a finalist in a number of short-story contests, with “Edges of Gray” winning first place in the Texas Authors Contest. 

 

The Open Portal, winner of the Feathered Quill Book Finalist Award, launches the fantasy book series, Conquest of the Veil. Michael’s latest release, Escape From Wheel, is book two in this fantasy series. Visit Michael’s official website, or google him @authormsclifton.

 

 

 Website ║ Facebook ║ Twitter ║ Instagram ║ YouTube

BookBub ║ LinkedIn ║ Amazon Author Page ║ Goodreads  

–————————————

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

FOUR WINNERS!

One Winner:

signed paperback copy + $15 Amazon gift card

Three Winners: Kindle e-book copy

OCTOBER 1-11, 2020

(Print copy U.S. Only)

 

https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

CLICK TO VISIT THE LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGE 

FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY, 

or visit the blogs directly:

 

10/1/20	Review	Chapter Break Book Blog
10/1/20	BONUS Post	Hall Ways Blog
10/2/20	Review	Jennifer Silverwood
10/3/20	Review	Book Fidelity
10/4/20	BONUS Post	All the Ups and Downs
10/5/20	Review	The Book Review
10/6/20	Review	The Page Unbound
10/7/20	Review	Momma on the Rocks
10/8/20	Review	Forgotten Winds
10/9/20	Review	Missus Gonzo
10/10/20	Review	Reading by Moonlight
10/10/20	Review	The Clueless Gent

 

   blog tour services provided by

 

  

Review & Giveaway: Finding Esme by Suzanne Crowley

FINDING ESME

by

SUZANNE CROWLEY

  
Genre: Middle Grade (3-7) / Magical Realism / Family & Loss
Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Date of Publication: August 14, 2018

Number of Pages: 288

Scroll down for the giveaway!

After her grandfather died from a heart attack while driving his tractor on Solace Hill, twelve-year-old Esme’s been inextricably drawn to that spot, although her grandmother warns her to stay away. But when she follows her little brother, Bo, and her dog, Old Jack, up the hill while chasing fireflies, she makes an incredible discovery—dinosaur bones peeking out from underneath the abandoned tractor.

The bones must be a message from her grandfather, a connection from beyond the grave. But when word gets out that the farm is hiding something valuable, reporters, researchers, and neighbors arrive in droves. Esme struggles to understand who has her best interests at heart, especially as the memory of her grandfather begins to slip away.

Full of friendship and adventure, and featuring a palpable Texas setting, Finding Esme is a moving and heartfelt story about family, friendship, and learning to deal with loss.

PRAISE & HONORS FOR FINDING ESME:

“Esme is a brave, appealing heroine with the odds stacked against her… Bad blood and layered family secrets drive this story to its ultimately optimistic and satisfying conclusion.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

“Esme McCauley is a lonely but spirited 12-year-old who feels nothing ever happens to her the way it’s supposed to…A poignant tale for readers who enjoy character-driven realism.” — School Library Journal

“Readers muddling through preteen changes or unstable family lives will identify with Esme’s struggles, but the thrill of discovery will appeal to most.” — Booklist

Texas Library Association 2019 Spirit of Texas (SPOT) reading program selection

CLICK TO PURCHASE

 

Every once in a while you read a book and just know that this is the first of many times that you will read it. Finding Esme by Suzanne Crowley is one of these books. I struggle to put into words why that is exactly, but it’s a feeling that came over me when I began reading. I have read a good number of stories with a similar setting, but Crowley’s turn of phrase, character building, and imaginative plot transport you to a completely different place.

But let me backtrack a bit and talk about the cover for a second. I like the unusual use of colors and the distinctive illustration style. I especially like that the cover art ties in with the story while appealing to its intended audience. However, I feel like the artwork is a shade too juvenile for the story within. This book was like a mash up of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt, and My Daniel by Pam Conrad. If you have read any of those books, you know that they deal with tough subject matter and they all have pretty somber cover art to match. But I get it. Kids are more excited to pick up a pretty book in hues of purple, orange, and green; but I think it disguises a very sophisticated story.

If you’ve gotten this far without reading any synopses of the book, then proceed directly to your own copy and enjoy reading one of the best coming of age books ever. There’s a whimsy of adventure that is tethered to the earth by the hardships of the time and the personal struggles of Esme. I found it fascinating how a supernatural gift could be grave one moment and then later provide levity to another situation. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but there’s a lot of duality at play. Characters that flip between love and hate, a home that is a safe harbor one day and a cage the next, the desire to find the truth replaced by stubborn denial. And that’s just a handful that I came up with on the fly. This is the sort of book that should be studied in a youth literature class.

Funny coincidence that I had to point out, Crowley dedicates the book to her father, whose last name is Carlisle. Esme and Carlisle! [Insert groan here.] I read a lot of YA, what can I say? But seriously, this book is top shelf. Boys and girls alike will take something special from this book. And old fogies like myself will add this to our collection of classics.

Suzanne Crowley is the author of two acclaimed novels for young readers, The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous and The Stolen One. The author, who is also a miniaturist and dollhouse collector whose work has graced the covers of magazines worldwide, was born in a small town in Texas and lives in Southlake, Texas. When not hugging her dog or imbibing in chocolate, she can often be found taking a nap.

 

Website ⬥ Facebook ⬥ Twitter ⬥ BookBub

Goodreads ⬥ Instagram

–———————————–

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

TWO READERS EACH WIN A SIGNED COPY OF FINDING ESME, TWO CANDLES, BOOKMARKS, FUN FACT CARDS, AND A PEN!
February 11-21, 2020

(U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

2/11/20	Review	Momma on the Rocks
2/11/20	Review	The Page Unbound
2/12/20	Audio Review	Hall Ways Blog
2/12/20	Review	Librariel Book Adventures
2/13/20	Review	Jennifer Silverwood
2/14/20	Review	Missus Gonzo
2/14/20	Review	#Bookish
2/15/20	Review	Reading by Moonlight
2/16/20	Review	StoreyBook Reviews
2/17/20	Review	Story Schmoozing Book Reviews
2/17/20	Review	Rebecca R. Cahill, Author
2/18/20	Review	All the Ups and Downs
2/19/20	Review	That’s What She’s Reading
2/20/20	Review	Books and Broomsticks
2/20/20	Audio Review	Forgotten Winds

   blog tour services provided by

 

Review & Giveaway: Angel Thieves by Kathi Appelt

ANGEL THIEVES

by

KATHI APPELT

Young Adult / Magical Realism / Historical / Contemporary
Publisher: Atheneum / Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

Date of Publication: March 12, 2019

Number of Pages: 336

Scroll down for the giveaway!

An ocelot. A slave. An angel thief.

Multiple perspectives spanning across time are united through themes of freedom, hope, and faith in a most unusual and epic novel from Newbery Honor–winning author and National Book Award finalist Kathi Appelt.

Sixteen-year-old Cade Curtis is an angel thief. After his mother’s family rejected him for being born out of wedlock, he and his dad moved to the apartment above a local antique shop. The only payment the owner Mrs. Walker requests: marble angels, stolen from graveyards, for her to sell for thousands of dollars to collectors. But there’s one angel that would be the last they’d ever need to steal; an angel, carved by a slave, with one hand open and one hand closed. If only Cade could find it…

Zorra, a young ocelot, watches the bayou rush past her yearningly. The poacher who captured and caged her has long since lost her, and Zorra is getting hungrier and thirstier by the day. Trapped, she only has the sounds of the bayou for comfort—but it tells her help will come soon.

Before Zorra, Achsah, a slave, watched the very same bayou with her two young daughters. After the death of her master, Achsah is free, but she’ll be damned if her daughters aren’t freed with her. All they need to do is find the church with an angel with one hand open and one hand closed…

In a masterful feat, National Book Award Honoree Kathi Appelt weaves together stories across time, connected by the bayou, an angel, and the universal desire to be free.

 

CLICK TO PURCHASE
BRAZOS BOOKSTORE  ◆  BLUE WILLOW BOOKSHOP  ◆  BOOK PEOPLE
AMAZON  ◆  BARNES AND NOBLE  ◆  INDIEBOUND

PRAISE FOR ANGEL THIEVES:

Spiritual, succinct, and emotionally gripping. 

— School Library JournalA heartfelt love letter to Houston that acknowledges the bad parts of its history while uplifting the good. — BCBB

Shows the best and worst sides of humanity and underscores the powerful force of the bayou, which both holds and erases secrets.

— Publishers WeeklyNarrative strands are like tributaries that begin as separate entities but eventually merge into a single thematic connection: that love, whether lost or found, is always powerful. — Horn Book

Richly drawn and important. — Booklist, starred review

 

It was a little eerie reading Angel Thieves amid all the rain and flooding here in Houston. While I normally think of my city’s flooding as a byproduct of excessive precipitation mixed with overdevelopment and trash, Appelt’s novel clued me in to the fact that this area has a history of floods and how the path of the Buffalo Bayou has relocated many times because of them.

But more on that in a bit; let’s talk art for second. The book jacket has that distinct YA look and is very appealing with its shiny, black background and light blue mixed with white in the text and imagery. The angel statue has line drawings within it of a manacled wrist, an ocelot, and a slave woman with a headwrap. I really dig the font used, graffiti-like with black paint splattered on it. When you take the jacket off, there’s a beautiful surprise of a bright white background with a blue ocelot filling most of the front cover and spine. Within its image, you see the same line drawings from the jacket – it looks like an expansion because now we can see both manacled wrists, the full image of the ocelot and slave woman, in addition to a treble clef staff, a chapel, a slave girl picking cotton, and the words “Reward” and “Wanted” – all important parts of this story.

Appelt’s writing style can be compared to flood water – it flows quickly and sucks you in before you realize just how strong and deep it is. The chapter lengths vary depending on whose perspective we are reading from. Thankfully there are cues to location and time period at the top of each chapter. Ever wondered what it was like to be an ocelot or a body of water? After reading this book, I sort of feel like I kind of do. I must confess, it took me a little while to get my bearings because each new chapter was a revolution of the revolving door that brought out a different character. I really liked the distinction between each character and their unique names.

I am always amazed when I read books that weave so many different stories together into one beautiful literary tapestry. Appelt accomplishes this effortlessly and I was truly invested in each story line. I am impressed with the amount of research that went into writing this book, and how she took random ideas and turned them into a captivating story. As seamlessly as the author tied up the loose ends, I still wished to know more about the details of Achsah’s journey and whether Cade ultimately found what he was looking for. Ok, maybe I don’t want to read more from the perspective of the bayou, but I could read more about the ocelot.

I really don’t have many notes on this book because I thought everything was executed so well. I did have one question though: twice in the book, “I’m here for you” is crossed out and “There’s love enough” is written in its place. Will this be done in every printed copy of this book or did I just get an early version that didn’t have the correction in it? I ask because, while I like the line better, its first use in the book doesn’t set up the following chapter the same way that “I’m here for you” does. The revision disrupts the flow of the story a bit in my opinion.

This book is joining the modest sized YA section of my bookshelf. I plan to reread it on rainy days and can’t wait for my son to grow up and read it as well.

Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honoree, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award–winning, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the National Book Award finalist The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Maybe a Fox (with Alison McGhee), Keeper, and many picture books including Counting Crows and Max … Attacks. 

 

She has two grown children and lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband and their six cats. She serves as a faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts in their MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program.

Website  ║  Twitter ║ Facebook ║ Instagram 
Blog  ║ Goodreads  ║  BookBub
Amazon Author Page  ║  PinterestLearn more by visiting the Angel Thieves Pinterest Boards!

————————————-

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

THREE SIGNED COPIES OF ANGEL THIEVES

SEPTEMBER 24-OCTOBER 4, 2019

(U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR

9/24/19	Book Trailer	The Page Unbound
9/24/19	Book Trailer	StoreyBook Reviews
9/25/19	Review	Missus Gonzo
9/26/19	Guest Post	Story Schmoozing Book Reviews
9/26/19	Guest Post	That’s What She’s Reading
9/27/19	Review	Hall Ways Blog
9/28/19	Guest Post	Sybrina’s Book Blog
9/28/19	Guest Post	Reading by Moonlight
9/29/19	Review	Forgotten Winds
9/30/19	Review	Momma on the Rocks
10/1/19	Playlist	Chapter Break Book Blog
10/1/19	Author Interview	Texas Book Lover
10/2/19	Review	The Clueless Gent
10/3/19	Review	All the Ups and Downs

 

   blog tour services provided by

  

Review & Giveaway: The Open Portal by Michael Scott Clifton

THE OPEN PORTAL

Conquest of the Veil #1

by

MICHAEL SCOTT CLIFTON

Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal / Magical Realism
Publisher: Book Liftoff
Publication Date: May 1, 2019

Number of Pages: 337 pagesSCROLL DOWN FOR THE GIVEAWAY! 

But with dreams, there can also be nightmares

Lonely and plain-featured, Mona Parker is just another faceless teenager at Spring Hill High School. One day she runs afoul of Lady Anne Golightly, a beautiful and arrogant classmate who turns Mona’s colorless life into a hellish existence. Bullied relentlessly and with nowhere to turn, Mona considers suicide. One night, Thaddeus Finkle, her guardian angel, appears. He offers her a way out—swap lives with another.

The choice seems easy, and Mona takes the angel up on his offer. She awakens on Meredith, a parallel world of Earth where magic has replaced technology. Mona discovers she is Alexandria, a woman of breathtaking beauty, and the daughter of a Duke complete with servants and riches.

Then she discovers the price of her bargain.

Trapped behind the Veil, an impenetrable curtain of magic, the Duchy of Wheel is the last major province still unconquered by Marlinda, the creator of the enchanted barrier. Known as the Dark Queen, Marlinda’s cruelty includes a singular fondness for melding men, women, and children, with animals…and she has special plans for Alexandria.

Tal, the Prince and Heir of the Empire of Meredith, burns with an intense hatred for Marlinda and her minions. The Dark Queen’s raiders regularly cross the Veil to prey upon the helpless citizens living near the magical boundary. Despite an elaborate system of Watch Towers along the enchanted barrier, it is impossible for the Empire to stop all the raids. Desperate to protect his people, Tal takes dangerous risks to prevent these attacks. Banished to a remote garrison for his reckless behavior, while on a routine patrol, Tal leads an elite unit that happens upon a group of raiders—one whose leader possesses the means for opening a way through the Veil.

Thus begins the conquest of the Veil.

 

“The Open Portal is packed full of action from the time it begins in our mundane world, to when it jumps to another. It has all the elements of a good fantasy: a cruel queen; a frustrated prince; and beautiful girl with a pure heart. There are brave boys, werewolves, white priests, and watchtowers. I can’t wait for the saga to continue.” — Abookanight

CLICK FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS:

Escaping a humdrum life to a world of magic is my favorite sort of fantasy book. Who doesn’t like the idea of leaving behind a place where you merely exist for a place where you can truly thrive and be powerful and super attractive? But where most books fail to address the price you pay for such a switch, The Open Portal lays it all out in the open and reminds you every chance it gets.

Clifton paints a very bleak portrait of a young woman who only has her brother and a few church elders to keep her sane. While other fantasy books might describe pretty tame bullying scenarios, this one has situations that are difficult to get past. If you took the grossest bullying scenes from ‘80s movies and multiplied them by 10, you would understand what Mona goes through in the beginning of this book. And just when you think that she escapes all of that by choosing a new life on the gorgeous planet of Meredith, you realize that she has just traded in her old, terrible life for a George R. R. Martin-type situation.

When I wasn’t cringing at the horrible things that happened to the characters, I was admiring Clifton’s descriptions of each character and the different settings. I feel as though so many books are either plot driven or character driven to the point that you have no idea what anything or anyone looks like. That is certainly not the case with this book. I can say that I was truly transported along with Mona and felt like I really got to meet everyone for the first time like she had.

As much as I adore things like shapeshifters and gritty survival situations, I had difficulty getting through the chapters with Tal and Razor. I promise it wasn’t because of their strange names. I actually wasn’t a fan of many of the character’s names in this book: i.e., Lady Anne Golightly and Rodric Regret. But that’s ok, because they didn’t keep me from being disappointed that the story ended so soon. Thank goodness for the sneak preview of the prologue and chapter 1 for the next book in the series. Those tidbits left me in good spirits and in anticipation for Book 2.