​A woman so determined to be famous, she'll try anything.  So will her reflection.  Together, woman and reflection travel around until they find a place where they belong.  However, when they get separated, one is not sure how to function without the other. 

Written in the style of flash fiction, each chapter of Madam Velvet's Cabaret of Oddities ranges from a sentence to several paragraphs.  I have only read a few flash fiction short stories before, so reading an entire book in this style was definitely a new experience for me.  It did take me a few chapters to get into the story, but once I was in the groove, I was devouring page after page.  Much like the shards of the broken reflection, the story is told in bits and pieces.  Information is received out of order and sometimes out of context, there are flashbacks to the woman's childhood as well as visits from her future self.  There are peeks into the lives of other carnival workers like the Four-Legged Woman and the Human Skeleton as well.  With this style of writing, my imagination went wild creating the settings and characters in my mind.  Some of the settings and scenarios were outrageous, such as the Fantasy Hand-Job brothel, but the themes of self-worth and longing will be able to connect with any reader. Madam Velvet's Cabaret of Oddities is an eerie and different flash-fiction read, easily consumed in one sitting.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

​Lore is a collection of six short stories that re-imagines folktales and mythology from around the world and places interesting and romantic twists into each.   Written by six different authors, each story has a unique feeling and setting.  


Shimmer takes the mermaid tale and gives it a fresh spin with Draven and Coral.  Draven is spending the summer at his father's cottage after a heartbreak when he sees Coral alone at night, seemingly drowning herself. Draven is compelled to help Coral, but she may not need it.  I really enjoyed these characters for the short time that we know them as well as the modernized mermaid mythology.  I did think it wrapped up a little too quickly, but that is the nature of short stories.

Between is a modern story of the Arabic djinn brought to a modern high school. Lucy and Natasha have made peace with their bodies and have found love with each other at fat camp this summer.  When Lucy returns home skinny, everything changes.  She is finally accepted into the popular group, the Royals.  However, being a lesbian does not fit their mold.  This one made it difficult to like any of the characters, but there was growth even within the confines of the short story.  I enjoyed the arc of the djinn the most and that Lucy and Sienna were able to realize that love wins over popularity. 


Sunset Moon incorporates lore from the Blackfeet Native American mythology in order to reawaken a troubled teen.  Eloise takes the rap for her boyfriend and now has one strike too many, it's either jail time or nine months at a juvenile work home.  While there, Eloise is forced to learn about her heritage and meets Ven.  Ven is bound to help Eloise through the darkness, but she must accept the light.  I really liked learning about the dreamcatcher lore as well as watching Eloise find hope in her life.  This is one that I would have loved to see develop into a longer story.


The Jewish Golem and Frankenstein's monster are combined in The Maker.  After Brett is left with a traumatic brain injury, courtesy of his now ex-girlfriend Cassandra, his life is changed forever and he is bent on revenge.  Unable to get out and about much by himself, Brett unearths his family's hidden manuscripts and makes a creature that will be sure to seduce Cassandra and humiliate her.  The Maker is definitely the creepiest story of the bunch, but also the most surprising.  The Golem is the best character of this story.  

A Beautiful Morning was one of my favorite stories, a tale of the Mayan sun god Kinish and flower goddess Ishel.  Their love for one another made perfect sense, but was forbidden.  This was a sweet romance that incorporated the destructive nature of some of the other Mayan gods that may have led to the downfall of the civilization. I really enjoyed these characters and the glimpse into the complicated lives of the Mayan deities.

The Barricades turned out to be another favorite of mine even though the premise seemed really strange to me.  Set in the future on another world, the Fae and humans have escaped a dying Earth.  They were set to live as equals, but the Ethernal Fae's powers have placed the above the humans in every way.  When the dying Eternal prince Daniel is found within the human area, a very caring human girl, Casey risks everything to save his life.  This was a very sweet and action packed story laced with magic, greed and romance.  A lot of development was packed into this short story that made it seem like much more.

The planet of Eldon, formerly Earth, controls its citizens with religion and a strict, but corrupt moral code that holds great consequences when broken.  Women are not allowed to go to school, except to train as wives upon their 19th birthday.  They are property of men that are held in high regard.  Education for all has gone by the wayside and knowledge of religion is revered.  Infrastructure is crumbling, everything is polluted and  people are dying.  Zelenka is unique, her parents married for love and educated her including how to read and write.  Now, Zelenka is spying for the  Amaryllians, the people who defected from Eldon.  Fianna, an Amyrillian is trying to set up an interplanetary trade in order to rescue some of the more enlightened Eldon's.  Zelenka makes the decision to follow Fianna to a new planet when the man she believed loved her, Fraco, refuses a love match.  With Zelenka's 19th birthday approaching, leaving Eldon is her safest bet.  Amyrillis is paradise for Zelenka, but not for long.

Days of Reign is a unique dystopian read that takes common elements of our current society and brings them to the extreme to create a horrific world, but one that is not to different from our own.  Zelenka's character was easily relatable, an educated women in a society where women were supposed to be owned or kept, she is working for a way out and takes it.  Fraco is a very interesting character, he seems motivated by love, but is stunted by the world he lives in and how he has been raised.  He is willing to destroy an entire planet in order to get back the woman he believes he owns.  The world building on Eldon and Amyrillis is detailed, I could easily picture degradation of Eldon and the serenity of Amyrillis.  The books is written from multiple points of view, some of which I didn't quite understand the purpose of, at least yet.  The first part of the book takes place on Eldon and is fast paced and laced with danger.  The second half takes place on Amyrillis and is idyllic and refreshing, but slower paced as Zelenka takes in a new culture.  There is foreboding danger lurking, however which rises to a shocking and sudden cliffhanger ending.  
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This book was received for free in return for an honest review.