We’re back at Ebook Review Central to take a look at the Dreamspinner Press titles from February 2012. But before we do that, I’d like to give a shout-out to Ariel Tachna from Dreamspinner for her session at the Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference on March 7.
Ariel said that one of the big reasons Dreamspinner placed all of their titles on NetGalley was to give librarians a chance to review the entire Dreamspinner catalog every month.
Ebook Review Central was created as a way for librarians to have “one-stop-shopping” for reviews of ebook-only or ebook-predominately titles. Over the last few months, I’ve discovered that a lot of readers, authors and publishers are finding it useful. I’m very happy with that!
Back to the February featured titles…
The first feature is Chase in Shadow by Amy Lane. There was absolutely no question that this would be number one. Every review is near or at the top of the reviewer’s rating scale, and there is a reason. This book isn’t just a story, this one seems to reach out and grab the heartstrings of every person who reads it. Because this one evokes personal stories. This is about one young man who is trying, so hard, to take care of everyone in his life but himself. He’s leading a double life, and pretending he’s not gay. He has a fiancé he loves. His life is a struggle on every level, financially, educationally, with his family. When his two lives collide, he almost doesn’t make it. And the story of his nearly not surviving that collision is what touches all the reviewers.
Ty’s Obsession by SJD Peterson is a story with a decidedly different flavor. This contemporary western BDSM tale is the second featured story of the month. Ty’s story is the third tale in Peterson’s Whispering Pines Ranch series (after Lorcan’s Desire and Quinn’s Need) and the reviewers say that the crew just gets better with each story. Also that the story needs to be read in order, so be prepared to get them all, since Peterson leaves loose ends dangling that lead to the next book. But series fans are more than happy to dangle, eagerly waiting for that next book.
Last, I’m going to give the third featured place to a January book. There weren’t a lot of reviews for this one when the January 2012 ERC for Dreamspinner went to “press” but in between, the word-of-mouth has clearly gone around, and it’s very, very good.
Bonds of Earth by G. N. Chevalier is a book about not just surviving a war, but also about surviving the peace. And about having dreams above your station, and trying to make them come true, and what happens when a war shatters you. And how rebuilding someone else helps you rebuild yourself. The clear message that war is always hell, and that not all wounds are physical, since the war in this story is the first “War to End All Wars”, the one history now labels World War I. And added to all of that the love story of two gay men who fall in love at a time when imprisonment is still a very real possibility.
Bonds of Earth sounds like an absolutely fantastic read, but I agree with a comment that several reviewers mentioned, that the cover doesn’t do it justice.
But that’s it for this week. Please join me again next week at Ebook Review Central. March Madness will continue with the February featured titles from Samhain Publishing.
