C Gockel Writes

Uprooted Book Review

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$1.99 as of June 8, 2025 in US & CA
Click for current price: Amazon US, Canada (Full-price: Amazon UK)
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I LOVED THIS ONE! Uprooted is Naomi Novik’s take on Beauty and the Beast.

Except that the heroine goes unwillingly to a castle to live with the Beast for a time it doesn’t bear much relation to that story. It is much more exciting. Like Spinning Silver there are a lot of great relationships—friendship, love, and family. 

The world is exquisitely crafted. The language is just as lush, and I recommend it highly. It kept me up late reading—if you’ve already read it, I love Spinning Silver , too!

[Read more…]

Featured Fantasy: The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

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Featured Fantasy: The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

99¢ Each as of June 7, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US (Full-price:United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia)

Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she’s his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids.” What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea―except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for 3 days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he’s in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn’t recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all―including Leo―related to a god.

Fans of demigods, prophesies, and quests will be left breathless—and ready to tear into the next chapter of Heroes of Olympus!

Featured Sci-fi: Artifact (Old Man’s Comeback Book 1) by John Walker

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Featured Sci-fi: Artifact—Old Man Comeback by John Walker

99¢ as of June 7, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Veteran soldier Raymond “Flip” Kinnely believed his battle days were behind him.

Now, in the quiet twilight of his life, he toils as a janitor for a powerful military contractor, far from the chaos of war. But when he arrives to find his workplace in lockdown, his routine is shattered.

An otherworldly artifact has been discovered, harbored deep in the compound. As his employers attempt to understand how it works, a mysterious prisoner stands on the verge of a brutal interrogation. Through a chance encounter, Flip hears her plea for help. Drawn to her vulnerability, he discovers she may be the only thing standing between Earth and a coming disaster.

Flip must decide: will he walk away and condemn an innocent to torture and death? Or stand against his ruthless employers?

In a moment when age and experience weigh heavily, can one former warrior summon the courage to defy the odds?

Featured Fantasy: The Power Within (Australian Supernatural: Goldfields Book 1) by Nicole R. Taylor

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Featured Fantasy: The Power Within (Australian Supernatural: Goldfields Book 1) by Nicole R. Taylor

FREE as of June 5, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, B&N, Kobo, GooglePlay

A vampire with a thirst for revenge. A witch who doesn’t know she’s a witch. In this small Australian town, darkness is waiting to rise…

When Holly Burke’s eccentric aunt dies, she’s drawn to the country town of Dunloe. The small community is haunted by its violent Gold Rush past, where deadly paranormal secrets lay as thick as gold in the hard quartz below their feet.
Oblivious to the supernatural world, Holly soon finds herself in the middle of a war for power that’s been raging for almost two centuries. A power, according to legend, her family holds the key to. The catch? She has to die.
Trapped between two warring sides—witches and vampires—Holly must unravel the secrets hidden deep within the pages of history in order to save her future.
For without the power within, she doesn’t stand a chance.

The Power Within is the first book in the Australian Supernatural: Goldfields series. Set against the backdrop of Victoria’s vibrant Gold Rush history, it tells the story of a young woman who is swept up in a struggle for power between witches and vampires that began almost 200 years ago. Mystery, murder, and magic combine in this thrilling Urban Fantasy adventure!

Featured Sci-fi: The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (Brainship Book 1) by Anne McCaffrey

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Featured Sci-fi: The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (Brainship Book 1) by Anne McCaffrey

$2.99 as of June 5, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom (Full-price: Canada Germany, Australia / Apple, B&N, Kobo, GooglePlay )

A Sci-fi Classic on Sale!

Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved—saved to be schooled, programmed, and implanted into the sleek titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first she had to choose a human partner—male or female—to share her exhilirating excapades in space!

Her life was to be rich and rewarding . . . resplendent with daring adventures and endless excitement, beyond the wildest dreams of mere mortals.

Gifted with the voice of an angel and being virtually indestructable, Helva XH-834 antipitated a sublime immortality.

Then one day she fell in love!

Featured Sci-fi: Colonies—the Forever World Complete Series by Ethan Rhodes

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Colonies—the Forever World Complete Series by Ethan Rhodes

99¢ as of June 5, 2025
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A DEAD MAN’S QUEST IS NEVER OVER…
Nearly 1000 PAGES of riveting space opera with action, mystery, and everything in between!

Zane Lucas inherits more than his wildest dreams from a man he’s never met. The same week a mysterious cluster of drones appears before him during a random border patrol. Who sent them in the first place?

Earth’s alliance with the Gral is on the brink of collapse. The 43 colonies are under duress, and an unknown entity is coming for them.

His father vanished long ago in the heat of battle, and Zane can’t help but think there’s a connection. With the help of unlikely allies, a robot butler, and all the credits imaginable, Zane takes on the search for a fabled planet that might turn the tides in humanity’s favor.

Their only chance at real peace is to start a war.

Follow along with…

The Colonies: The Forever World Complete Series

Included within:

The Forever World
The Invisible Colony
The Frozen Outpost