Crossroads
by Jonathan Lister
Series: Demos City #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing
Book Blurb:
Werewolf. Bar
bouncer. Dad. Standard traits for any self-respecting, reformed criminal,
living under the radar in Demos City. For Leon Gray, normal is what he wants —
for himself and his not-yet-changed teenage daughter.
Playing bodyguard to crusading reporter David Hastings would totally ruin
Leon’s peace, especially since Hastings has hired killers on his trail, pros
who know how he takes his espresso in the morning, and where Leon lives.
The payoff, though, would fill up Shauna’s empty college fund, and in a battle
between opportunity and ordinary, money wins. He just has to keep Hastings
alive long enough to cash the check.
If only he didn’t have to save his daughter, too.
As a budding wolf, she’s piqued the interest of a local pack Alpha — one Leon
knows will steal Shauna right out from under him the first chance he gets.
Leon isn’t about to give up on his daughter or Hastings, and will fight for
both longer than it took Demos City to see werewolves as equals to humans.
He can only hope it doesn’t take a thousand years.
Author Bio:
Jonathan Lister
is a full-time writer with work appearing in outlets of USA Today, The Houston
Crossroads:
a Demos City Novel is Jonathan’s first book-length work of fiction. He
currently lives in the Philadelphia area and continues to drink too much
coffee.
Chronicle and many others. A graduate of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied
Poetics at Naropa University, he’s waited an unspeakable amount of tables en
route to having the career he wants, and the ability to the tell stories he
loves.
My Review:
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Aahh, I do love a good werewolf book *insert contented sigh here*
Crossroads has some of the typical pack 'politics' that you'd find in other werewolf books but I liked that in this one werewolves have been known in the world for a thousand years. It's a nice switch up from a lot of books where their furrdentities (furry identities) are hidden. Werewolves being acknowledges creates a new set of rules and laws which adds to the uniqueness of Crossroads.
Along with the new rules in regard to werewolves, Crossroads also has a big mystery for two of the main characters to solve. There was a lot going on and it was very easy to get caught up in the action and intrigue.
Not every loose end was tied up at the end and I'm really looking forward to seeing what trouble Leon, Hastings, and Shauna get themselves into in the second book.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
I just wanted to send a quick thank you to Jonathan for stopping by with this great list of books!
The Ten Books That Will Change Your Life
Books
change lives. Their characters and wordplay compel people to make impromptu
treks across the country, open up a bed-n-breakfast, find out what it’s like to
experiment with…um…neckties. Here’s a list of the books that altered the course
of my own life in one way or another – the good, the bad, and ones I read
repeatedly just to gain some perspective. Check them out; maybe they’ll change
yours as well.
#10 Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
You don’t need to rhyme to write a poem?! Blew my tween
brain open when I first read ‘Song of Myself,’ which thankfully, some wise
English teacher made me do. This book opened up the possibilities for me, and
encouraged me, in no small way, to take chances.
#9 The Return of the King
J.R.R. Tolkien
Everything is at stake in this book, and that’s why it can
change your life. Tolkien showed us what it’s like for characters – even the
smallest among us – to carry the burden of the world’s fate on their shoulders
and triumph in spite of impossible odds. He also shows the lasting effects of
war, and how it permanently alters those who must fight in it.
#8 The Dialogic Imagination
Mikhail Bakhtin
Snooty book learning from a dead Russian literary theorist.
I understood approximately every third word in college, but I managed to take
away one essential truth: the novel is polyphonic. Every interaction triggers a
multiplicity of voices in a story, and the writer needs to control them all, or
at least acknowledge them, to have a tale worth telling.
#7 Transbluesency
Amiri Baraka
This collection of poet Amiri Baraka’s work exploded the
doors on what I thought was possible to do with performance and artistry. The
man (who was also my professor for a brief spell) is a master orator and
manipulator of language.
#6 The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood
A dystopian future that has a poignant message, Atwood will
change the way you see gender relations and our bonds to reproduction. She has
this profound economy to her words that is both delicate and a knife’s edge of
description.
#5 Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
My best friend Drew recommended this one, and I read it
again in my early 20s. Ellison’s work might be the most important story coming
out of the Civil Rights Movement. Battle Royale is a chapter that can function
as a short story all on its own.
#4 True and False
David Mamet
The screenwriter, playwright and director is credited with
making the word ‘fuck’ literary. This book he breaks down the job of actors,
which is to just communicate the business of the damn play and get the hell off
stage. It’s beautiful.
#3 The Black Company
Glen Cook
War stories in a sword and sorcery landscape told from the
point of view of the foot soldiers that fought in them. Cook puts you right at
the ground level of the action and communicates the real dread of confronting
evil wizards and the undead.
#2 The Legends Series
Margaret Weis and
Tracy Hickman
My brother turned me on to the
Dragonlance books as a kid and I instantly gravitated to Raistlin Majere, the
frail wizard with the constant cough and hourglass eyes. This series, which
stars Raistlin and his brother Caramon, has it all: hubris, love, loss,
destruction, redemption, and fierce loyalty to family.
#1 I, Lucifer
Glen Duncan
Ever been hooked by a
story after reading the first line? That’s what Duncan did to me in his story
about Satan living in the body of a failed writer. I didn’t just read this
book, I inhaled it. I’ve lost two copies from lending them to people and I’ll
probably end up buying more before I break down and get a digital copy. No one
builds character like Duncan does at this moment. No one.
Mayan Afterglow
