W.A. Stanley

W.A. Stanley
Book Reviews

Tarja Titan: A Terrian Chronicles Novel

Avatar: The Last Airbender Meets World of the Gateway
Abused and neglected for nearly a decade, Tarja Titan always longed for a home…
…But she didn’t anticipate the reception she’d receive upon her return to a world she thought only existed in fiction
For starters, everyone in Elemental Society knows her name. Even if she has no recollection as to why. For another, she’s going to a university to hone a rare supernatural ability, or abilities, she’s never heard of.
Everywhere Tarja goes and everyone she speaks to, new secrets emerge. Like the fact she was murdered as a child and somehow here she is, as alive and well as her new classmates.
And this school has more secrets than Tarja could imagine. It has hidden rooms, corridors, and yeah, resident spirits love hanging out here. And they’re not shy about sharing a few stories. Even if her newly-discovered godbrother is.
Calling all fans of E.E. Holmes’ World of the Gateway and Carissa Andrews’ The Windhaven Witches. If you like strong heroines, elemental magic, complex plots, and young adult fiction, or better yet YA+, given the more mature subject matter, you will fall in love with Tarja Titan.

Book Reviews

Havoc

They had all killed themselves.
Waking up in the heart of Engine, Shadow only has one goal in mind: destroy the place that made her life hell. Easier said than done. Put in a horrifying position as Engine’s assassin, she has no other choice but to follow their twisted ways.
Stripped of everything she’s grown to rely on, Shadow must keep her team safe and come up with a plan. But nothing was ever as it seemed. Her sanity starts to slip as answers are discovered. Escape soon becomes a dire thirst—her team is jeopardized—and time is running out.
Jack never wanted to end everything. But he had to die; someone needed to save her. Fixated on keeping his team alive, Jack realizes that there’s no going back. Or escaping. She wants to get revenge—but that would cost their lives.
Severely injured and divided on different sides, Jack must find the foundation that started it all to heal him. Otherwise, they were all going to die.
With Engine picking them off one by one, the team must find a way to escape—all with one life.

Book Reviews

Apprentice

Freewoman Dalm, she thought, whatever you think this thing around my neck is, I can assure you it is definitely not a treasure.
One month after her childhood friend Gilbert appeared on the doorstep of her library seeking help in fleeing from the Blue Crescent Brotherhood, Lenna Faircloth – librarian, self-proclaimed dormouse, and lover of all things alcoholic – finds herself in the unlikeliest of situations: roughing it in the forest with her mother’s people, the Freewomen of Laur.
With his dying words Gilbert bequeathed to Lenna one of three powerful artifacts, dubiously named the Godjewels, and it had formed a unique psychic bond with her that only the wards of the Freewoman settlement could mask from the other parties interested in acquiring her gem.
As for Lenna? She’s just interested in taking a bath, having a tall glass of wine, and forgetting the last month ever happened.
Apprentice continues the tale of Librarian and follows the adventures of a young woman forced to confront and discover what it means to be a hero (albeit a sometimes tipsy one), a friend, and a person with far too much power at their ready disposal.