#Review - Operation: Cupid by Michael Anderle & M Guida #YA #Fantasy

Series: Paranormal Mercenary Corps # 2
Format: Kindle, 221 pages
Release Date: January 17, 2023
Publisher: January 17, 2023
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

Chelby has escaped Sector Nine’s detention center and avoided execution, but her troubles are only just beginning…

Her sleep is disturbed by terrifying nightmares of Fae assassins shooting down a blue dragon. As the dragon turns to stone and shatters, Chelby wakes up to a blazing inferno in her room.

She lost control—again—and there are consequences.

Too many lives are at stake and Chelby is too dangerous to stay in the dormitory.

Dr. Gould has no choice but to move her to the therapeutic center until she can master her fire abilities. Banished from her friends and taken out of training, Chelby sees the center as a pretty version of jail.

Will she be stuck there indefinitely, or will the continuing revelations about her origins change everything for her?

Sector Nine is up to their old tricks again.

They’re using the Edinburgh orphanage Chelby lived at while she was a kid as a front to develop super soldiers to hunt down supernaturals.

The orphanage is the key to her past, but the only way she can go with her team is to prove to Dr. Gould that she can control her powers.

Can Chelby break through the fear holding her back from getting the answers she needs? Or will her family connections get to her first?

Operation: Cupid by co-authors Michael Anderle and M. Guida is the second installment in the authors Paranormal Mercenary Corps series. This book picks up 2 days after Chelby was rescued from Sector Nine's infamous prisoners under the control of her stepfather Robert Brooks. Even though she's safe with her team, her sleep is disturbed by terrifying nightmares of Fae assassins shooting down a blue dragon. As the dragon turns to stone and shatters, Chelby wakes up to a blazing inferno in her room.

Who were the people in Chelby's dreams? Dr. Gould who is not only a Gold Dragon, but leader of the Paranormal Mercenary Corps., has no choice but to move her to the therapeutic center until she can master her fire abilities. Banished from her friends and taken out of training, Chelby sees the center as a pretty version of jail. She also knows that even though she escaped, there are plenty of people who want her dead. In fact, one could say that she's so important that assassins are eager to find her and remove her off the board.

This is going to be spoiler-y since this book is filled with some major revelations. Chelby learns that not only is she dual blooded, which is unheard of, but she's part fae, and part dragon which is why assassins went after her mother and father. It seems as though a certain individual from the Court of Blossoms isn't all that happy that Chelby exists. She's a threat to his reign. As is Commander Wyland who just happens to be Chelby's uncle, and Dr. Gould who just happens to be Chelby's grandfather on her father's side. 

After learning a whole lot about who she is and who her family is and the importance of keeping her safe, Chelby's team consisting of Kog (Orc), Maggie (Dire Wolf), Hicks (Wolf), Jonas (Fae), and Justice (Vampire) is now called Anchor of Salvation and they are given a mission of utmost importance. Dr. Gould advises the team that Section Nine is up to their dirty tricks again. They are using an orphanage in Scotland, one that Chelby spent some time in, for nefarious perhaps, and they may have supernaturals in their custody that they are using their blood to create super soldiers.

One new character is added. His name is Brody O'Hara, and he's a human who has been experimented on to create said super solders. It seems as though Section Nine has been taking children who won't be missed and pumping them with supernatural blood. Brody knows who Chelby is, and he knows who her mother was. He knows why fae assassins are so eager to hunt her down as well as Wyland. But can he be trusted? King Ash is obsessed with keeping the crown for himself, and if Chelby remains alive, she has every right to claim the crown for herself. But Chelby isn't going to take Ash lightly, especially when she proves how dangerous she really is.

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#Review - Call Sign: Cupid by M. Guida , Michael Anderle #Fantasy

Series: Paranormal Mercenary Corps # 1
Format: Kindle, 225 pages
Release Date: December 6, 2022
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: New Adult / Fantasy

Chelby Duncan never knew who her parents were, or why they gave her up.

Knowing when people belong together is what she's best at doing, but her success at fixing people up isn’t exactly career-worthy. Chelby’s foster father is a retired general who is running for Senate, so joining the army is the natural direction for her to take when she turns eighteen.

At the Military Entrance Processing Station, she is given a blood test and discovers that she’s not human.

She’s Fae, and she has second blood type that they can’t identify.

Warned to run before she is taken by Sector Nine, Chelby flees the MEPS.

Call Sign: Cupid is the first installment in co-authors M. Guida and Michael Anderle's Paranormal Mercenary Corps series. 18-year old Chelby Duncan has been in and out of foster homes since she was abandoned by her mother. She's also lost memories of her past before she was 8. Chelby has the curious ability to know who should be with whom like Cupid. On her 18th birthday, with the urging of her foster father, Retired General Robert Brooks, who is also running for the Senate, to join the military, Chelby is hopeful she's get in. On the day of her testing, however, things don't go as planned. 

At the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) in Colorado Springs, she's given a blood test. A nurse tells Chelby that her tests showed that she's not human and that she should run. She's fae and something else. What's the issue? There is a group known as Sector Nine. Their stated goal is to wipe out the supernatural community and they are eager to get their hands on Chelby. Chelby's only hope of surviving seems to be the mysterious Dr. Malaki Gould who is the director of the Guardian Division of the Paranormal Mercenary Corps. 

Chelby soon meets other supernaturals and learns about the Fae powers that were suppressed when she was young. Someone put a powerful glamour on her to prevent her from being revealed to those looking for her. The only person capable of breaking said glamour is Commander Will Wyland who also is Fae. Her emergent powers are very powerful, but unless she can learn to control them, it could cause havoc with her new teammates which include a vampire, a fae, an orc, and 2 shifters.

When an exercise goes wrong, Chelby learns that Sector Nine hasn't forgotten about her and there is a brutal betrayal of someone she thought she knew. Will Chelby master her new powers and break free of Sector Nine’s grasp before it’s too late? We shall see in the sequel which I do plan to read once it's out in January. There are some really twisted revelations involved in this story, mostly when it comes to who Chelby really is, who her mother was, and if she has any connection whatsoever with Command Wyland.  

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#Review - The Magic Legacy by Martha Carr, Michael Anderle #Fantasy

Series: Witches of Pressler Street #1
Format:Kindle Edition, 246 pages
Release Date: December 31, 2019
Publisher: December 31, 2019
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Magical Realism / Fantasy

Witches are being murdered in Austin. But how do you put the monster back in the vault?

The three witches of Pressler Street are the city's only hope but they are running out of time.

A deadly creature has been locked away for millennia in plain sight. But big sister, Laura accidentally set the creature free and no one remembers how to put it back.

Find the witch-killer and stop its path of destruction on Austin. But what spell to use? Can the sisters figure it out?

Better hurry! He’s gunning for the Hadstrom sisters first. Time to come together and finally learn how to blend their unique powers into something new.

The Magic Legacy is the first installment in co-authors Martha Carr & Michael Anderle's Witches of Pressler Street series. What you should know. The story takes place in and around Austin, Texas. The main characters are (3) sisters: Laura (oldest), Nickie (middle) & Emily (youngest). Laura is an archaeologist and professor at University of Texas. Nickie is a renowned musical prodigy called Queen of Blues. Emily is graduating with a BA in Culinary Arts and one day hopes to run her own restaurant. 

The sisters are witches who are told that they now must continue the family legacy of protecting witches and wizards from a bounty hunter known as Goraflex. Oh, and, before I forget. Earth is actually a "spaceship." The witches are from another planet called Arenya V. Earth is a sort of sanctuary from the Goraflex who was contained and imprisoned until Laura unwilling releases it from captivity and it goes on a hunt searching for witches and wizards. In this world, non-magical people are called peabrains. 

But, these so called peabrains once awakened by the Goraflex, can sense and most likely use magic.  As for the different kinds of magics that each sisters wields, well that is the most interesting part of this story. Laura can spot a magical artifact from a mile away. She found a 500 year old wand in a creek, and can also make weapons. Nickie's gift, like her fathers, is in her music. She can make people feel the music. 

Finally, Emily channels the strength of her magic from food. She puts her emotions, desires and passion into everything she makes. When I first started reading this book, I immediately thought Charmed. Then there are the rings that the sisters are given that apparently can do magic without the need of a wand. The rings apparently sense what the sisters need and does it for them, like making weapons out of iron, making them stronger, and with Nickie, gives her greater healing abilities. Can the sisters come together to save their fellow witches and save themselves? We shall see.

One the few curious nuisances in this book is the way the authors use inner conversations to tell the story. Each time the girls are speaking, it is as though they are talking to themselves while the audience is looking on and asking, is this person crazy? One of the other curiosities is Carl Hopkins who runs Hopkins Antiques. He is the one who Laura seems to gravitate towards whenever she needs help. However, it never says if this Carl is a witch, warlock, or just someone who knows a whole lot of information about almost everything. The main annoyance or me was this object called Gilroy who the sisters go to seek answers, only to be stars in a comedy script. 

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