C Vonzale Lewis Archives - Proud Book Reviews

February 20, 2023February 20, 2023

Zealot – C. Vonzale Lewis

This book contains:

Depictions and descriptions of a cult and it’s impacts to the members and their families
Description of paedophilia
Description and depiction of both protective and ritualistic murder
Emotional and psychological control.

We continue to follow Nicole, picking up almost immediately after Lineage finishes. While she’s gained more confidence, has a stronger sense of herself and her beliefs; there are still huge gaps missing for her that she’s trying to puzzle out.

Nicole formally joins the group hired to find the killers of a young woman and joins the hunt to find all Blood Magick users. As they search, Nicole discovers more and more about her past and her place in the world today while more and more Gods seem to congregate on Tulare Island.

In their search for answers, they discover more than they ever thought possible.

While I really enjoyed this, I didn’t think it was as captivating as Lineage. The main reason for this stems more from the pacing than anything else I think.

It felt like the main story was written, then they realised that some context was missing and found places to shove it in at random points. The end result being that some parts felt like a normally paced book, and others felt like we were trying to shove 3 chapters worth of content into the space of like 3 pages.

It felt weird and made it hard to keep up with each of the details. And for reference, I barely had an issue keeping up with everything that happened in Game of Thrones throughout all the currently published books. I think if the book was a little longer, maybe not spaced over a couple of days, this could have been much better.

I still enjoyed it though!

The action, following along as each piece of info is delivered and figuring out how it all pieces together. That was definitely interesting. I just think I would’ve preferred a little bit more time taken in certain parts to help it flow easier, be easier to remember and also feel more realistic.

December 19, 2022December 10, 2022

Lineage – C. Vonzale Lewis

This book contains:

References to, discussions of and descriptions of substance abuse
Casual sex with numerous people
Attempted murder and the aftermath of murder described
Suggestions of cannibalism.

Nicole is the centre of our story and boy is she wild!

Nicole is unapologetically herself in the bluntest, in your face, truthful and persistent way. She has her own thoughts, feelings and opinions and she makes absolutely no excuses for them let alone tries to hide it.

Nicole is not the kind of girl who has a clear career pathway, instead, she jumps from job to job struggling to get by without having to borrow money from her parents. But she can’t let this last opportunity slip through her fingers because it’s the absolute last job she can go to without having to move back into her parents’ place.

But Tribec Insurance has weird vibes right from the get-go and weird things keep happening to her both in and outside of work.

I reached out to Carla to get a copy of this after reading the excerpt in the BBNYA competition because I was just absolutely shocked that it didn’t make it through to the final round. While I can understand how it lost some marks in the scoring (there are some grammatical and spelling errors, but not enough to truly bother me, especially when the story grabs me so utterly) I still can’t believe it didn’t make it through.

By the time I reached the end I was so enthralled I had to skip straight to buying the next book in the series because I needed more. The rollercoaster, the questions left unanswered and the hints of there being SO MUCH MORE to what was going on than what we knew was too much for me. I needed the next one straight away.

December 15, 2022December 7, 2022

Lineage – C. Vonzale Lewis

This year, the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the 50 books that made it into Round Two with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title. BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 10 finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website or take a peek over on Twitter. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Blurb

Smart-mouthed Nicole Fontane has a way of getting herself into trouble.

She’s been fired from every job she’s had but still refuses to work in her father’s apothecary shop because of his practice of Earth Magick.

On Tulare Island where Nicole grew up, Magick has always been a way of life—one she’s determined to avoid at all costs. With less than two hundred dollars in the bank and rent due, Nicole is forced to take a job at Tribec Insurance as a last resort. Little does she realize, the moment she sets foot inside the building, she becomes a pawn.

Tribec’s proprietors, the Stewart family, are curiously preoccupied with the Naqada, the mysterious pre-dynastic Egyptian society. It seems creepy but harmless at first, until the eerie atmosphere, disappearing Magick wards, and the smell of blood inside Tribec bring Nicole to a startling conclusion. The Stewarts are practicing Blood Magick—the deadliest of the Five Principles.

By the time Nicole uncovers the truth, people near and dear to her are going missing, and all signs point to the Stewarts and an archaic blood ritual to an Old One. To prevent catastrophe, Nicole must confront a hidden past and unlock the Magick buried within. But can she set aside her deep-rooted fears to work with a team of vigilante Mages? Or will the clock run out on Nicole and those she loves?

Author Bio

My name is Carla Vonzale Lewis and I like my martinis shaken… never stirred.

Carla was born in Georgia, but please don’t mistake her for a Georgia peach. She’s more like a prickly pear. Speaking of being born, someone asked her recently if she remembered her birth. And she had to say, “Yes, I do remember that handsy doctor pulling me out into the cold. Right Bastard!!!”

Despite being born in the South, she grew up in California. Every once in a great while she gets to experience all four seasons. But mostly, it’s just heat.

When not writing, Carla enjoys reading, binge watching shows on Netflix, and trying to convince her husband that getting a dog is a wonderful idea.

And one day, she will discover how many licks it actually takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.