BLOG TOUR # 9 - GIVEAWAY - BOOK REVIEW - A SLIVER OF SHADOW - ABBY SINCLAIR # 2, GUEST BLOG SPOT WITH AUTHOR ALLISON PANG

By: Allison Pang

Published By : Pocket Books

Released : 28th February 2012

Details : Paperback, 384 Pages

RATING : 4.75 TALIVAR STARS!!

Book Blurb : Taken From Goodreads

Just when her new life as a TouchStone — a mortal bound to help OtherFolk cross between Faery and human worlds — seems to be settling down, Abby Sinclair is left in charge when the Protectorate, Moira, leaves for the Faery Court. And when the Protectorate’s away…let’s just say things spiral out of control when a spell on Abby backfires and the Faery Queen declares the Doors between their worlds officially closed.

The results are disastrous for both sides: OtherFolk trapped in the mortal world are beginning to fade, while Faerie is on the brink of war with the daemons of Hell. Along with her brooding elven prince Talivar and sexy incubus Brystion, Abby ventures to the CrossRoads in an attempt to override the Queen’s magic. But nothing in this beautiful, dangerous realm will compare to the discoveries she’s making about her past, her destiny, and what she will sacrifice for those she loves.

BOOK REVIEW : A SLIVER OF SHADOW

I absolutely loved this sequel in the Abby Sinclair series.

Brystion , Brystion where are you ? The hunky daemon, Brystion takes a nice amount of leave from this instalment. Who we do get instead is Talivar,  the body guard in spades, whose character progresses in this instalment. We are introduced to Talivar, Moira’s brother at the end of ‘A Brush of Darkness’.

I love this, taken from Allison's page.

Brystion is keeping his distance for the most part, he packed up and left the Heart that Abby left for him. Abby is pining for Brystion but at the same time a light is glowing for Talivar and things move a lot slower than they did with Brystion. Talivar is into courting and not bamming in the cheap room , even though if Phin hadn’t been causing trouble with Melanie and Katy , it may have been the cheap room * waggles eyebrows*

Phin is still super naughty and mischievous , but we learn more about the little fellow. I liked what Allison did with his character. Phin is a total scene stealer. Whenever he pops up , his dialogue and actions steal the show.

I quite liked seeing Abby in mamma mode with baby Benjamin, it was quite cute. Baby Benjamin is very cute with his wings, but mamma Moira is in Faery attending to her mother who appears to have lost the plot a little.

Yes, I think I am Team Talivar. I do love Brystion, but he needs to pick himself up. Abby - Brystion was quite full on and smexi from the word go in ‘A Brush Of Darkness’. A total of like two weeks they knew each other.

This story takes place six months down the track.

I love at virtually the half way mark of this story we took off to the CrossRoads, due to a reason you can find out for yourself. There begins an adventure for Abby who is separated from Talivar for a short bit and we meet some great sub characters. I quite liked Jimmy,  and now this is the second book only I have come across a Kitsune,  oh and a talking horse that isn’t really a horse....hehe!!

Team Brystion does turn up again, but now we have me all confuzzed as I got myself a t-shirt with Team Talivar as he is gorgeous and we see things develop at a more manageable pace and it wasn’t based on sex . I don’t like the term the Crippled Prince, but this is what he is known as. I love that he is an Elf. So we have the daemon and the elf.

We actually get some lovely twists all round with several characters. There are a lot of places Allison takes us that really made this book enjoyable. The pace was exciting and smart.

 Plus the errrr.... triangle......* wink *

I am almost begging for ‘A Trace Of Moonlight’ due out October 2012.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend this series. Allison really pulled out all the stops in this instalment and then some...* wink* .

FAVE QUOTES:

   The elf had changed into an outfit I hadn't seen before, dark leather vambraces at his wrists and a thick vest over his tunic. His sword hung lose at his side , but now he also had a massive bow slung over his shoulder, a quiver of nasty looking arrows bristling at his hip. His hair was neatly braided and tucked out of the way. "It's like having my very own pet Legolas."

   His mouth curled up in a private smile. "You have no idea."


"Not to interrupt the whole kumbaya vibe you've all got going on , maybe we ought to can the love-in for the moment.


"What's to slander ?" I retorted.  "She's like a child, running her little tea party into the ground while the big bad wolf stands outside getting ready to piss on the gates. And the rest of the pigs are sitting here in their house of straw playing canasta. What's it going to take for you guys to get out the bricks?" My voice dropped lower.

Michelle

A BRUSH OF DARKNESS - ABBY SINCLAIR # 1 BOOK REVIEW

Now I would like to introduce Allison to the blog and thank her for this wonderful guest blog spot.

ENJOY!!

GUEST BLOG POST WITH AUTHOR ALLISON PANG

Sidekicking It 

One of the most prevalent characters in UF and PNR today is that of the sidekick. Not that we don’t see sidekicks in other genres, but it’s unlikely that we’ll read about talking skulls or cat-demons or even tiny pervy unicorns. 

*ahem*

But sidekicks in general aren’t just there for looks. They serve a purpose, often as a companion or even a foil to the main character. They can make observations the main character might not see, give advice, be a shoulder to lean on. Not that the main character is required to take that advice, but it’s out there and sometimes the most innocuous of comments can lead into something much larger down the road.

Sometimes a sidekick can *become* the main character for a while (think Samwise in the Lord of the Rings – one could argue that without him, the One Ring wouldn’t have been destroyed. Without his support, Frodo might not have made it to Mordor.)

So that sort of leads us into which is better? Human vs nonhuman sidekicks? Is there a preference for one over the other? There are advantages and disadvantages to both. 

Starting with animal sidekicks – they tend to come in two flavors. “Normal” animals – dogs, cats, and the like, which may or may not talk or have some other power…and those that do. It’s obviously up to the author how they want to work it – certainly there’s a place for both, but in the UF and PNR genres, there definitely seems to be more of the latter as opposed to the former. Given the nature of the worlds the characters inhabit, I think readers often expect talking cats or whatever. It adds to the worldbuilding and can give the reader a more in depth view of things.

Which actually brings up another point – if we’ve got a creature sidekick, should they be able to speak? I think a lot of it depends on the overall role of the sidekick. I know for myself, when I first started writing Phineas into A Brush of Darkness, I hadn’t intended him to talk at all. He was only supposed to be there for comedic effect. When he speaks for the first time about half-way through the book? That’s pretty much just want happened. He opened his mouth and boom! Instant change of character. 

But it worked. Instead of merely becoming a leg-humper, he became a pervy little thing, with the ability to leer and be wildly inappropriate – but now it’s mixed with actual advice. He’s got a much larger part to play in the next few books and let’s just say his arrival in A BoD was not an accident. There’s a purpose behind many of his actions, though you’ll have to read to find out what those are.

Human sidekicks may have things a little easier at times – they don’t have to be hidden, like maybe a magical animal sidekick has to be, but it comes with its own level of complexities too.

Human sidekicks often have lives outside of the main character. There’s a greater possibility for conflict there. Rivalry, mistrust, miscommunication – all of these things can drive a wedge between sidekicks and add to the plot. (And that’s not to focus on the negative – just that friendships can have their tense moments as well, and perhaps human characters often seem to have a greater depth to them. Also, I think there may be a prevalence for characters to trust animal sidekicks more. Which may or may not be wise, but it’s ingrained in many of us to accept that animals like dogs and cats can grant us unconditional love. It’s not that far a stretch to assume the same for animal sidekicks. They’re not going to potentially compete for the love interest, for example.)

Plus I do think that humanoid sidekicks have a greater chance of being main characters in their own books. Not that all sidekicks don’t have their stories to tell, but I know in my case, Phineas is really only good in small doses.

Although he’s one of my most popular characters (and I get requests all the time for me to write up a book with him as the main character), I’m not sure that would ever work. In this case, Phin really only is a sidekick. It’s a bit like a spice. Too much and it’s going to turn off the readers. Plus, Phin with real depth might be a tad boring – snark only carries you so far.

So who are your favorite sidekicks? Do you prefer one type over another?

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY

Allison is giving away 10 signed copies of

A Sliver of Shadow tour wide

BOOK REVIEW - A BRUSH OF DARKNESS by ALLISON PANG - ABBY SINCLAIR # 1

By: Allison Pang

Published By : Pocket Books

Released : 25th January 2011

Details : Paperback, 343 Pages

RATING : 4 BAD BOY BRYSTION STARS!!

Book Blurb : Taken From Goodreads

The man of her dreams might be the cause of her nightmares.

Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn’t at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and sexy-as- sin incubus searching for his sister, convinced Abby has the key to the succubus’s whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shape-shifter literally invade her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish, as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As she is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, Abby realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart—and there’s no one she can trust to save her.

BOOK REVIEW: A BRUSH OF DARKNESS

You gotta love a book that starts off with , “Cat piss and cabbages”. followed by some Tom Jones , ‘She’s A Lady’,playing away in the back of your brain. I found it an awesome way to get me into the mood for this book. Well not necessarily the cat piddle..hehe!!

You can throw Urban Fantasy at me any day of the week I looooove it. There is just something about the urban world authors build. Add in the sidekick, be it animal , fey, paranormal or human bff into the story, in this case we have Phinneas aka Phin, the cheeky, naughty , knicker loving fifteen inch tall unicorn. Stir in a mystery and a chicky babe, albeit naive to the cause who has the smexi admirer and we are cooking.

‘A Brush of Darkness’ is all that. Abby Sinclair is the naive TouchStone to Moira the Protectorate. Now I must stop and say, I am still unsure of what a TouchStone does. I am also not overly sure what Moira the Protectorate does or what a contract entails. Maybe I missed something. Maybe I just needed something in the front of the book to say TouchStone = ? It was just something that niggled at me because I kept reading Abby the Touchstone and I was waiting to be enlightened. But all that aside, I enjoyed Allison’s world and her mystery she gave us.

What I thought was different about Abby’s character is she has a limpy knee, which doesn’t really cause her any problems in this book, but her major handicap is her seizures she gets. Abby has to deal with seizures on top of all these things she has thrown at her.

Enter, the big fella Brystion , aka Ion, who is of course gorgeous, but complicated , oh and he is an Incubus.....complicated....much?

Moira is missing, and Robert her Angel, cranky pants, body guard isn’t too happy with Abby. She is on her ‘L’ Plates with all this TouchStone stuff and is naive about a few things, which makes cranky pants Robert...well crankier.

Brystion wants to find his sister, Sonja, the succubus, who has gone missing. Then Charlie, Robert’s main squeeze goes missing and everybody wants answers and a whole lot more from Abby, who just wants Phin to stay out of her knicker draw.

I love the Art Gallery scenes with the paintings, I thought they were really well written. There was a further chapter with the paintings that I really visually saw well and it was my fave chapter/scenes in the book.

Who is batting for good, and who is appearing to bat for all things good....this is the question?

I enjoyed Allison’s world and am looking forward to ‘A Sliver of Shadow’, cause there is some things I just wanna know. Plus more Brystion is always a plus even if he comes in a very complicated package.

Michelle