Showing posts with label The Day of First Sun. Show all posts

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Review: The Day of First Sun by Sheryl Steines

Goodreads Blurb:

When Princess Amelie of Amborix is murdered by magical means, Annie Pearce and Bobby “Cham” Chamsky of the Wizard’s Guard are called in by the FBI. Their job is to help solve the crime while keeping the non-magical world from discovering the existence of the Wizard Council.

During their investigation, Annie and Cham discover that Princess Amelie’s death is connected to a series of other crimes in the Chicago area. A larger plot involving, a vampire, a rogue wizard and an army of soul-less zombies is revealed, but can Annie and Cham discover who is responsible before The Day of First Sun?

My Thoughts:

This books reminded me vaguely of Harry Potter; magical beings living among us in their own communities, while us normal folk don't notice a thing. The headquarters of the Wizards Guard, where Annie and Cham work, reminded me of the Ministry of Magic, a big, official magic hub.

The Day of First Sun was fast paced and had a whole ton of magic. Magic is definitely a huge part of Annie and Cham's lives. They use it for everything from teleporting to healing to summoning their clothes when they wake up in the morning. In this book, there is a very strong distinction between black and white magic, rather than being on a continuum. There was no grey area as far as I could see.

On the down side, I didn't feel a much of a connection with the characters as I would have liked to. There was nothing wrong with them, I just didn't fall in love with them. I would have liked to see more of a lead-up to Annie's decision about Cham. Also, maybe it's the gamer girl in me, but I felt like the Wizard Guard was overpowered. Every thing they did seemed like a bit of a cakewalk, but maybe that's how law enforcement should be. Also, I could have done without the prologue or epilogue (which had a weird shift from third person to first).

On the Cover:

I don't mind this cover, although I'm not a huge fan of brown. I think this cover feels more like high fantasy than urban fantasy though.

Favourite Character:

Honestly, probably Sturtagaard. He's everything a vampire should be: selfish, smart and vicious. Definitely not sparkly!

Favourite Scene:

Sturtagaard's epic escape attempt.

Rating: 3 Hearts

Source: I received an ecopy as part of Novel Publicity's whirlwind tour.

But there's more!

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the Day of First Sun eBook edition is just 99 cents this week. What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include $450 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win!

To win the prizes:

Purchase your copy of The Day of First Sun for just 99 cents
Fill-out the simple form on Novel Publicity
Visit today’s featured social media event

Help my blog win:

The tour blogger who receives the most votes in the traffic-breaker poll will win a $100 gift card. When you visit Novel Publicity’s site to fill-out the contest entry form, don’t forget to VOTE FOR ME.

About the book: A vampire, a rogue wizard and an army of soulless zombies are par for the course for Annie Pearce and Bobby “Cham” Chamsky of the Wizard’s Guard. But when the non-magical princess, Amelie of Amborix, is murdered by magical means, a deeper plot unfolds. Get it on Amazon.

About the author: Behind the wheel of her ’66 Mustang Convertible, Sheryl is a constant surprise, using her sense of humor and relatable style make her books something everyone can enjoy. Visit Sheryl on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Day of First Sun Blog Tour - Excerpt

Please enjoy this excerpt from the urban fantasy novel, The Day of First Sun. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $450 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

Sturtagaard chose not to speak, though it was he who had called for the meeting. They both checked their watches and realized they had been sitting across from him for ten minutes, watching him sniff the air. If he wanted to play this, they would play along at least for a little while longer, though both were tired of the leering. As the vampire sniffed again, Cham finally figured out why.

"You know, you called us. We really don't have anything to say to you, so if you're just playing games, we're happy to leave. I've got other, more important things to do than watch you sniff and leer," Cham finally said, and stood up.

Sturtagaard smiled as he watched Cham open the door because he much preferred dealing with Annie, but when she stood up, too, he realized he'd overplayed his hand.

"If I talk, my employer will have me staked. I'd like some assurance that you won't do the same," he said rather quickly, before they left.

They turned and looked at him, both rolling their eyes.

"I'll have you staked if you don't talk," replied Cham, as he stood by the door.

"You're out of options if you ever hope to get out of here again," Annie said calmly, focusing on his face.

Sturtagaard squirmed a little in his seat, as Annie's expression was somewhat disquieting and unemotional. He looked at Cham, whose face was expressionless, and then back to Annie, who hadn't moved a muscle. The vampire sighed.

"You heard right. I was hired to create a zombie army to overthrow the Wizard Council," Sturtagaard said. His voice remained steady and calm with resignation.

"Who wants to overthrow the Council?" asked Cham, his hand still clutching the door.

"My employer. I've told you, I don't know who he is. I always dealt with his associate. He'd show up, leave notes, or send others with messages. I've never contacted him." He looked from one to the other, but they both remained stony and detached. "Come on, now. I can't give you information I don't have." Sturtagaard was charming.

Annie rolled her eyes again. "You really don't have any idea who the employer is?" she asked with sarcasm.

"Really, I don't," he said.

"So you're building an army of the dead. How long did you have to get this done?" Annie took out her phone and pulled out her calendar.

"He wanted it ready for September first."

Annie looked up with a grimace, and Cham looked surprised. She didn't need to mark the date on her calendar or research its significance, though neither could figure out why a zombie army had to be created for that day, the Day of First Sun. It was a very powerful and ancient day for good magic.

"So, your employer wants an army of the dead on that day? Why?" Cham asked in a flat, emotionless voice.

"He's a black wizard. What do you think he wants? He wants to overthrow the Council, take over the world, practice magic in the open. You know, the typical magical fantasy." Sturtagaard grinned because he believed that would benefit the entire supernatural world.

"Wipe the smirk off your face, Sturtagaard. Having free reign won't be as good as you think, with all the angry mobs, torches, and stakes through the heart."

Annie smirked at Cham, who shook his head and laughed. He waited to compose himself before looking back at the vampire.

Purchase your copy of The Day of First Sun for just 99 cents
Fill-out the simple form on Novel Publicity
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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Theme Thursday - The Day of First Sun Edition

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event from Reading Between Pages that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

March is going to be all about making life easy. This month we will do ‘Pick what you see first‘ themes.
Pick the first sentence that has any relevance to food, drinks, eating or drinking. I am really liking how easy this month’s snippets are becoming and I particularly loved last week’s…

FOOD - First snippet from the book having any relevance to food, drinks, eating, drinking

*** * ***

This week my Theme Thursday comes from The Day of First Sun by Sheryl Steines. It isn't precisely about food, but it involves drinking, so here we go!

"Gibbs handed Annie a potion to restore her energy made from mint, a small dose of honey for sweetness, and a mixture of herbs that he refused to reveal. She drank it slowly, but made a face when she swallowed."

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Teaser Tuesday - The Day of First Sun Edition

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week, my teaser comes from The Day of First Sun by Sheryl Steines (please come back and check out my blog tour post next week).

"You've given us quite a headache, Jordan Wellington. We're going to be spending a lot of time and resources cleaning up your mistake," Ryan said.