Shade of Evil: a short story by Jacinthe Dessureault

Blurb

A map drawn in blood found under the floor of an old house...

A derelict cabin deep in the forest...

A gruesome local tale...

Will four intrepid teenagers come out of the woods unscathed?

Shade of Evil tells the story of detective Pierre Deveraux’s first brush with the paranormal as a young teen. He will appear in A Sinister Gift, the first novel in the upcoming Nora Bello Paranormal Mysteries series.

Ebook, 52 pages

☆☆☆☆ of 5

I like the writing and the main character. The dread, the fear and the details is good.

Pierre was a very mature character, wise beyond his thirteen years old, even wiser at twenty three years old.

The conclusion regarding the mystery a little too light for my taste. It was a whole but not quite enough.

Maybe because i have this scenario where the ghost is not gone yet and subconsciously arise on occasion with new case where that possessed one become Pierre's arch-enemy.

I got the ebook free HERE or click on the image below 

Past Mistakes (Emily Voss - Episode 1) by Nick Lavitz

Blurb

Emily Voss scrapes a living performing exorcisms in New York city. Despite occasional encounters with actual demons, most of her work is little more than fakery. She takes the money anyway and drowns her guilt in a glass of whisky at the end of the day.

Called to investigate strange occurrences in an ageing hotel, Emily comes face to face with something that's going to take more than a kilo of salt and a few latin phrases to deal with.

Ebook, 26 pages

☆☆☆☆☆ of 5

This is supposedly the first book from paranormal story of Emily Voss, the demon exorcist. 

I like the story, but it's so short! And seeing how short it is, it feels more like a prequel/episode/chapters than a supposedly first book.

I like that Emily is kickass and her partner here not a perfect guy with hinting of a romance in the future blah blah (like many YA urban paranormal books 😏) but rather a sarcastic and grumpy one. 

The story is intense and engaging but again, i wish it was longer. 

I got the ebook free HERE, click on the image below for the ebook

Lust (Lust, Money & Murder #1) by Mike Wells

Blurb: 

Born in the worst suburb in Pittsburgh, Elaine Brogan is bright, beautiful and bold. When her father is falsely arrested for passing counterfeit $100 bills, Elaine vows to become a Secret Service agent and track down the man responsible. 

After barely surviving the arduous Secret Service Training Academy in Laurel, Maryland, she is transferred to bleak and blustery Great Falls, Montana. 

But things do not go as planned, and Elaine soon finds herself betrayed and thrown into an adventure that takes her halfway around the world, from dark and mysterious Sofia, Bulgaria, to Moscow Russia, and finally, to Milan, Italy. 

In the end, will Elaine find the love and happiness she truly seeks…or will she turn to a life of obscene wealth, power and corruption?

Ebook, 107 pages

Finished on December 2018

☆☆☆ of 5

The prologue and some of Elaine childhood story eerily similar to Morning, Noon & Night by Sidney Sheldon.

That's way i feel vaguely familiar when i reading on the prologue (wealthy old man with young mistress on exotic location, although on Mr Sheldon's the old man died instead the girl) and Elaine modelling part (similar with Kendal Stanford short-lived modeling.)

The author writing style also seems heavily inspired by Mr Sheldon (which is not my favourite).

But fortunately, the rest of the story branch to different way and i like the description on Secret Service's job tests and the job's politics part.

As for the character, Elaine, a graduate from SS school, sometimes still act like a teenager or fragile young woman instead of a dependable agent.

I like Nick, although i have my suspicion on him. Too bad they end up involving. I rather have them pure as co-workers.

But set aside this factor, overall this books enjoyable. 

I got this ebook free on Smashwords