The Rise of Alpha (Savage Dawn, #2) by Robert Cole

The Rise of Alpha by Robert Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nuclear war had destroyed society on Earth and left pockets of survivors scattered across its surface, fighting for every aspect of life. However, below the surface near the former village of Box in Wiltshire, there existed one final remnant of the world from before the holocaust, the advanced, secret city of Genesis. Built and populated by the military and scientific community in case such a catastrophic event as this happened, Genesis had continued to thrive deep inside the Earth as the desperate survivors on the surface suffered nuclear winter and the collapse of the world completely unaware of its existence. But the leaders of Genesis knew what was going on above them and plotted to remove the sick and savage surface survivors. Their goal was to clear the way so when the Earth recovered, the people of Genesis could return to the land and restart society. The surface survivors, however, had other plans.

Three months ago, Alex Carhill and other survivors from rough cobbled-together communities in Wales and Scotland had discovered Genesis and their plans. En masse, they had breached the defenses of the underground city, and now he and leaders from both the surface and city were working hard to meld the two communities into one even though both held deep-seated resentment against the other. But then the rumors of survivors from the European continent flooding their island home’s shores began to surface. This wave of humanity was trying to escape a deadly new plague that had decimated survivor communities throughout France and Spain, and many of the new arrivals were infected, sick, and dying.

The combined Genesis leadership argued fiercely over what to do to stop the steady advancement of the new disease. Some proposed turning the wretched survivors back or killing them all as they arrived to prevent the disease from getting a foothold in England. But others successfully argued to launch a medical expedition to collect samples of the disease from the stricken and work to develop methods to treat, prevent, and cure it. Alex is tapped to lead the medical mission of mercy, but the convoy is not far along in their trek when they discover the new plague isn’t the greatest danger that has landed on their shores.

The Rise of Alpha is the second novel in the Savage Dawn series by Robert Cole. An exciting adventure story of survival, betrayal, and overcoming impossible odds, there seemed to be something surprising happening with every turn of the page. It was an easy-to-read and very enjoyable tale.

Alex Carhill, our hero, returns from book one along with his girlfriend, Elaine, and many others who will be familiar to the series’ readers. However, the cast of characters does not remain stagnant as tragedy strikes, and the author’s excellent world-building provides many new faces to love or hate.

It was great to see new threats evolve as well as new champions emerge as the story progressed. There are some great characters, and the Alpha society is pretty amazing and very well-developed. I found it easy to get behind the idea of the Alphas being the next step in human evolution and liked the extrasensory aspects of their development a lot. I liked that the author created something new, and we didn’t have the same old marauding bands of evil scavengers or zombies. Though I enjoy both of those staples in post-apocalyptic stories, it was awesome to face different and fresh evils.

Two horrifying threats, other than the plague, of course, gave me the willies. One was the subplot of how the city of Genesis attempted to wipe out the surface survivors before they discovered their underground hideaway. This storyline was shocking, and I was quite disturbed by what they had tried to do. The other threat was created when everyone’s pets were left to fend for themselves after the missile blasts. I love my dogs, but I did catch myself giving them the side-eye as I read late at night.

Another thing I enjoyed about this story was the setting. The author references actual towns and villages, and roadways which ground the action to the real world. Most people enjoy being able to visualize a book’s setting, especially if it is a familiar one. A map is conveniently provided to help set the location even more quickly.

I recommend The Rise of Alpha to readers of post-apocalyptic fiction, especially if they happen to be from the areas where most of the action takes place. For the best enjoyment, Nuclear Midnight, the first book in the series, should be read beforehand. Readers may be able to figure out references to events in the past and still have a good story, but really, Nuclear Midnight was an entertaining tale on its own. Both are quick, interesting, and fun selections in this genre.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

See my original review on Reedsy Discovery!

Nuclear Midnight (Savage Dawn, #1) by Robert Cole

Nuclear Midnight by Robert Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A well-done post-apocalyptic tale set in Wales featuring young adult protagonists.

Brothers Alex and Jason Carhill were several months into a planned year-long world tour traveling from their native Australia when troubles between the US and Russia suddenly erupted. Due to the volatility of the political situation, they decided to cut their trip short when they arrived in London, both to let things settle down and to see the city sights while they waited it out. The boys had lived in London when they were small and were ready to discover the places of their childhoods. However, neither the US nor Russia were backing down from hardline ultimatums, and the world’s citizens were holding their collective breaths as the two angry superpowers appeared headed toward a final showdown.

The London population began to panic, prepared for the worse, hoarding supplies and clogging all roads out of the city. But just as suddenly, the crisis appeared to have been averted, and the boys decided to hire a car and drive west to tour Devon and Cornwall. After several days on the road, a single emergency warning came that Russia had launched a large number of missiles, some of which were headed to Great Britain. But before the brothers could even seek shelter, the world around them exploded with brilliant white light and searing heat.

When Alex came to, he was in an underground shelter, and Jason was missing, taken to a nearby hospital to treat the injuries he’d received when the car they’d been in had been destroyed. The world was dark, the wind was howling, and a nuclear winter was upon them. Radiation fall-out made leaving to search for his brother impossible. He was alone with random strangers, many of whom were already showing the signs of radiation poisoning but safe, at least for the moment.

As soon as radiation levels dropped enough, Alex and others from the shelter (an old church basement) were sent out to search for additional survivors, supplies, government assistance, and Alex’s brother. But when they found instead was sheer chaos and a world quickly returning to savagery.

Nuclear Midnight is the first book in author Robert Cole’s post-apocalyptic series, Savage Dawn. The story follows the survival journey of young Alex Carhill and the comrades he acquires as he searches for safety, food, and a community of survivors looking to rebuild their world. It is an exciting and action-filled story with, literally, never a dull moment. The danger felt plausible and real, and because I quickly became engaged in Alex’s survival, I never wanted to put the book down. The setting in Wales was a new one for me, so I found that extra interesting and fresh. The storyline includes some great battle sequences that, although conveying the panic and confusion inherent in war, were still easy to follow and understand. These scenes were exceeding well done. If I had a complaint, it would be that the story had a somewhat abrupt ending. However, with the next book in the series on the Savage Dawn horizon, the wait to find out what happened next isn’t too long.

I recommend Nuclear Midnight to readers that enjoy post-apocalyptic tales featuring young adult protagonists, especially those set in Great Britain.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

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Skid Kids by Michael Franz

Skid Kids by Michael Franz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Skid Kids is the exciting story of young mutants who must battle it out in a cut-throat roller-derby-style competition for the pleasure and entertainment of the humans and a chance at freedom.

Skid Kids is an exciting young adult story of the dystopian world of the mutants’ Wastelands and Westport, where the remainder of humanity is gathered. The enclosed city of Westport, or ‘The Station’ as the mutants call it, is governed by the powerful ‘National Freedom Party,’ their leaders entrenched in maintaining the status quo and apt to do anything to keep it so. But not all humans believe that mutants are less than animals, dangerous, and require extermination; they remember they used to be humans, too. The mutants were created when they were caught in “The Cleanse,” the Station’s attempt to purify the contaminated air trapped inside the city of Westport. As the latest season of the Skid Track League approaches, the citizens of Westport sympathetic to the plight of the mutants are finally prepared to act on their beliefs. To the young mutants, the start of the Skid Track League represents hope, and it’s their only hope. The Skid Track team of mutants that comes in first at the end of the season is awarded their freedom.

Author Michael Franz has created a vivid world of opposites in the Wastelands and mutants and Westport and its people. His descriptions of the circumstances of the mutant population are almost tangible and desperate. The opulence and insulation of Westport, the city of the hope of the mutant rollers, is not what it seems. The cracks in the myth of freedom are slowly revealed as Zander and his young sister, Kensy, get drawn into the political machinations going on in Westport.

And speaking of Zander and Kensy, the brother and sister duo are the main characters of the story and are surrounded by a variety of interesting and sympathetic supporting friends. You can’t help but root for the mutants (on most all of the competing teams). They are that likable and relatable. Yes, there’s a bad apple or two (both mutant and human), but what would the plot be without them? It took a little longer for me to get on board with the Westport folks, but eventually, I did as the two stories entwined.

Although Skid Kids features mostly young adult characters (mutants don’t live long), I think readers of all ages will enjoy it. I found it an absorbing story and whipped through the over 400-page-long tale, feeling quite annoyed when I had to put it down to return to necessary tasks like sleep.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

View my original review at Reedsy Discovery!

The Church of Tango: A Memoir by Cherie Magnus

The Church of Tango: A Memoir by Cherie Magnus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I became a believer.

When her beloved husband, Jack, died from cancer, Cherie Magnus was set adrift. Cherie and Jack had planned their later lives as a couple. They had even invested in a second home in one of their favorite locations in France, near the Swiss border. But, instead, she found herself living alone in the family home in Los Angeles, her adult sons busy with their own lives. Cherie continued to work as a librarian, and soon the first holidays without Jack came and went. Some of their life-long “couple” friends melted away with Jack’s death. Others turned out to be snakes in the grass, not above taking terrible advantage of Cherie’s sudden widowhood.

But her passion for everything French remained, and Cherie decided to take her vacation alone in Paris, registering for a two-week intensive French language course. It is there that she first met and fell for Olivier, the class instructor and a married man. She returns to LA, but the long-distance relationship is far from over.

THE CHURCH OF TANGO is Cherie Magnus’s no-holds-barred memoir of her renewed search for life after the loss of her much-loved husband. She tells all: her loves, adventures, mistakes, and discoveries. Her story made me go through so many emotions! There she was, poised on the brink of being able to restart her life with her husband as an empty-nester when he was diagnosed with cancer. Later, she, too, received a cancer diagnosis (twice!). So she traveled to strange and exotic places to live and dance and love again.

I was so comfortable with the author’s writing style. Her words flowed, and I willingly followed. I admired her gutsy approach to following her heart to experience new things, hone her skills in the world of dance, and live life to the fullest. Several times I paused to seek out YouTube examples of the dance styles she was exploring or research more about a new-to-me term or look on a map to find the exotic location she was visiting. It was chockful of interesting tidbits and facts along with her absorbing story. The descriptions of the culture of the places she was living and especially that of the tango dance clubs were fascinating. I was delighted to see the author has additional books (just waiting for me!) about other times of her exciting life. I highly recommend THE CHURCH OF TANGO for readers that enjoy women’s memoirs (this is a must-read!), memoirs related to dance, and true stories of living life to its best advantage.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through France Book Tours.

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Behind the Wall (Shades of Secrets, #1) by Harris Kloe

Behind the Wall(Shades of Secrets: Book 1):Crime fiction/Suspense/Mystery short story series by Harris Kloe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Atmospheric with its bite-sized Twilight Zone delivery and smidge of Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart!

There’s something ‘off’ about the check-in at the Hill View Hotel from the very start. And when the clerk is reluctant to give him the pricey and unreserved penthouse suite, saying he thought he might prefer something a little more budget-minded, Henry is on the alert. But the beautiful room is perfect for a restful night until it wasn’t. Author Harris Kloe does a great job building the reader up for the surprising reveal. With its compact length of 15 or so pages, Behind the Wall is a quick and entertaining short story. Perfect for a little bedtime reading?

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author.

Behind the Wall is the first story in the Shades of Secrets series, a collection of five different stories with a similar theme. It is included in the Kindle Unlimited program and will be available for purchase at a reduced price of 99 cents. However, if you hurry, I noticed that it is offered FREE of charge today!

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Monet & Oscar: The Essence of Light by Joe Byrd

Monet & Oscar by Joe Byrd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the charm of the 1920s to the wonderful characters, fictional and fictionalized, this book shines!

After the end of the first World War, American soldier Oscar Bonhomme awakens in a military hospital. He was being treated for multiple injuries he’d received in action on the battlefields of Meuse-Argonne. His return to consciousness was greeted with the news that his mother had passed away back home in San Francisco. She had been his only parent, a free spirit, who’d rubbed elbows in France in her younger days with those who would later be known as the core artists of the Impressionist movement. She’d returned to San Francisco and supported herself and her son as a successful landscape designer but had never been able to tell Oscar who his father was, just that he was one of the artists.

With no one else waiting for him there, he decides to remain in France to recuperate further. Through the intervention of a friend he’d made in the hospital, the famous Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, hires him to care for his gardens and assist with setting up his equipment when he paints and then as a traveling companion. With a career in landscape design like his mother in his sights, Oscar jumps at the chance to see and learn about the famous gardens and learn from Monet about his fellow painters and discover which one is his father.

A mix of actual and fictional characters, Monet & Oscar by author, Joe Byrd, is a satisfying page-turner of a story. The easy-to-read writing style allowed the story to flow, and I was immediately caught up in its current. I could feel the sun as it shone on the pond in Monet’s garden at the various times of the day with the wonderful descriptions that added so much without ever bogging things down.

In addition to the comfort and immersion in the settings, I loved the characters. Most specifically, I was charmed by the main character, Oscar, he was so earnest and well-meaning, and he had this little touch of naiveté that really made me like him. The author did a great job creating the character of Isabelle. She was fun and feminine and evocative of the roaring 20s. Their romance is absorbing and nail-biting. Also, Monet’s large, close-knit family was great. I enjoyed ‘meeting’ them and experiencing their interactions with the elder Monet as his eyesight is going and his physical strength is starting to fail, with Oscar, who they immediately seem to make one of their own (without knowing about his search for his father), and Isabelle, too, when she enters the picture.

MONET & OSCAR is a wonderful historical fiction novel with mystery, romance, and adventure. There were twists and surprises throughout that kept the story moving and me turning the pages. I recommend this book for readers of historical fiction, those who would enjoy a satisfying tale featuring one of the greatest Impressionist artists, and even someone who would love to experience this time and place in France without leaving home to do so.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through France Book Tours.

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