W.A. Stanley

W.A. Stanley
Book Reviews

Prince of the Fallen Kingdom: Book 2 of Arc Legends of Ellunon

A HERO FALLS…
Kyen of Avanna—possessed by an arcangel, hunted by fiends, harried by a princess—just wants a decent meal. But dinner has to wait when he runs into an old enemy at the inn.
Ennyen is also a swordsman of Avanna. He’s got the prowess to rival Kyen and a burning feud which Kyen refuses to settle. When Ennyen draws a dark blade and calls down fiends, there’s no choice. They clash swords—and the battle goes ill.
Meanwhile, Princess Adeya is struggling with her new and dangerous life as the pupil of a wandering swordsman. The fight against Ennyen intensifies, and she begins to realize—Kyen isn’t the hero she thought he was. When he falls wounded, her budding skills alone aren’t a match for the mounting dangers. Or for the terrible discovery…
Ennyen and his fiends aren’t the only ones hunting Kyen down.

Book Reviews

A Dream of Death and Magic: Chaos of Esta Anderson, Book 1

If only we could choose who we fall in love with. I might have known better then. But he smiles at me again, our eyes meet, and I think that I’m dumb enough to have chosen him anyway.
Esta Anderson’s life is missing something.
She feels there should be… more to, well, everything, and her ambitions of being a photographer aren’t exactly going as planned, either. But she’s determined to change at least the latter this summer. She just isn’t sure how—inspiration has been a bit of a bitch lately.
She’s also a lucid dreamer who knows her dreamscape better than her actual neighbourhood. So, when one day she finds a strange obsidian void lake in her dreams, she can’t just pretend it isn’t there. Something has to happen if she jumps in… right? It wouldn’t make her feel so seen and strangely whole if it were nothing.
Except, that’s exactly what happens: nothing. At least at first. But then…
Who knew the world was so full of fairies and vampires and werewolves and demons and— Magic? Well, obviously they did, but Esta feels like she’s finally seeing the world as it really is. And with that new insight comes all the photography inspiration she’s been waiting for.
Except the Veiled are hiding for a reason. They’ve seen war before, and if Esta isn’t careful, her enthusiasm and curiosity could start a new one. Some of the Veiled are ancient, they remember the last battle against humanity…
And they know just how to turn Esta’s lucid dreams into her worst nightmares.

Book Reviews

The Enduring Legacy: The Martiniere Legacy, Book Four

What price do you pay for happily-ever-after?
Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere have made it. They’ve defeated Philip Martiniere, and Philip’s suicide leaves them an opening to reform the Martiniere Group as well as the Martiniere Family. To create their own, positive legacy.
But. The legacy of the Martinieres isn’t so easily repaired. Forty-five years of dominance by Philip doesn’t just go away overnight. Gabe and Ruby have a lot of work to do, especially since Philip’s toxic legacy endures in unexpected places.
New foes arise—including the specters of age and health. The mysterious worm that interferes with digital and living memories, and glitches their newest biobot designs.
Then Gabe begins to wonder—is Philip truly defeated?
Can he keep his legacy safe? Or is he doomed to lose his second family, only in a slower manner than the plane crash that killed his first family?
What will it take for Gabe to guarantee that his legacy endures?

Book Reviews

A Different Life–What If? A Different Life, Book One: A Martiniere Multiverse Novel

What if Gabriel Martiniere’s family didn’t die in a plane crash when he was twelve?
What if he didn’t have to go into hiding after testifying against the atrocities committed by his father, Philip Martiniere?
What if he met and fell in love with Ruby Barkley as himself, not as Gabe Ramirez, a broke saddle bronc rider on the run from indenture bounty hunters?
Gabe’s a billionaire nerd with a conscience, unlucky at love, striving to overcome the shadows of his past while searching for agritech to fight climate change.
Ruby’s a former rodeo queen, trying to get her degree in agricultural robotics, searching for agritech means to fight climate change, also unlucky at love and struggling with a shadowy past.
Can Ruby and Gabe successfully negotiate the complexities of the Martiniere Group and launch Ruby’s world-changing biobots without interference from competitors?