Stone's Kiss (The Avatars) [Kindle Edition]

Lisa Blackwood (Author)

Book Description

As a child, a near-drowning accident stole Lillian’s old life. Her new life began the moment she awoke at the foot of a brooding, stone gargoyle.

Years later, Lillian still finds comfort in Gregory, her gargoyle, never guessing he is more than cold stone until demonic creatures called the Riven attack. Gregory senses her terror and wakes from his healing sleep.

After the battle, Lillian learns the humans she thought were her family are a powerful coven of witches at war with the Riven. Lillian is something more than human, a powerful worker of magic, an Avatar to the gods. Gregory has been her protector for many lifetimes, but troubles in their homeland forced him to flee with her to the human world. And it wasn’t an accident which stole her memories—it was Gregory. He suspects Lillian is host to an infant demon, one capable of evil greater than the Riven.

Despite everything, Lillian fears she’s falling in love with her guardian. While she might be able to defeat the Riven with Gregory’s help, she doesn’t know if her fragile new love can survive the evil growing in her own soul...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lisa Blackwood grudgingly lives in a small town in Southern Ontario, though she would much rather live deep in a dark forest, surrounded by majestic old-growth trees. Since she cannot live her fantasy, she decided to write fantasy instead. An abundance of pets, named after various Viking gods, helps to keep the creativity flowing. Freya, her ever faithful and beloved hellhound, ensures Lisa takes a break from the computer so they can rid the garden of cats with delusions of conquest.

Product Details

• File Size: 394 KB
• Print Length: 250 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1466327715
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Lisa Blackwood (November 25, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B006EAMITG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,466 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Review for Stone's Kiss January 4, 2012

By Anne

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't normally read urban fantasy and certainly not urban/rural romantic fantasy but was tempted to give it a try after someone told me that I might enjoy it since it does have a few epic fantasy elements involved. So I will try to give a fair and open minded review for Lisa Blackwood's book, Stone's Kiss.

I'll start with the positive points:

* Good humor especially the Gargoyle's and Lillian's reactions to the unfolding situations throughout the novel; these two characters are very likeable and fun to read. They bring a bit of realism to an otherwise purely fantastical story.

* Good flow and diction

* Lisa could also write comedy very easily with that highly enjoyable dry wit.

* She is a natural story teller and world builder who doesn't need to hide behind explicit sex and violence to get her point across, so if this is all that you're looking for, go elsewhere.

* She also follows the time old/honored creative writing mode of introduction, raising action, climax and falling action without deviating from her STORY ARCH.

* She is also fairly good at writing interesting battle scenes that aren't laced with pointless graphic and blood thirsty activity. I can actually visualize their movements and actions and yet the author doesn't go to great self-indulgent lengths to get her point across.

* She creates a modern interpretation of old world mythological beings from Celtic, Germanic and Norse traditions.

* Those dire wolves put me in mind of the author Jane Lindskold, perhaps a nod in her direction...

* Also reminds me epic high fantasy authors such as David Eddings, Terry Brooks and perhaps even a little Tolkien, just on a much smaller, dare I say dumbed down scale.... However I don't think that's the fault of the author but rather the sign of the times, I'll stop there and refrain from bemoaning the decline and death of the Epic Fantasy Genre.

* This story seems to summon visions of Kate Beckinsale's Underworld films and perhaps even the Chronicles of Narnia with a Gothic edge.

Now for the bad points:

* If she could only get rid of those teenage sexual tension tidbits that litter the chapters, honestly they lust after each other, I get it, actually I got it after the first chapter or so, I found my eyes glazing over during these scenes and even skipping over those paragraphs.

* It seems that all those moments would have been better used to develop the secondary characters such as the character of Gran and the family (Coven) as well as some of the more significant mythological characters. Perhaps even tie in some kind of social commentary/parallel. In other words, please give the reader some credit; we are capable of demonstrating some intelligence.

* On the most basic level I did find a few spelling/word misuse problems here and there, something a good editor would catch...

All in all the good outweighs the bad and I'll be sure to check out the next novel in this series.

I also found her blog and a very lovely website if anyone is interested in what else she's been up to:

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Very cool website! Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely charming read February 1, 2012

By Edith Parzefall

Format:Kindle Edition

Stone's Kiss is a really funny, cute and sometimes dark novel with unexpected twists that made this book a page turner for me. I often laughed out loud then read on fully enchanted and annoyed by any interruptions or demands of life, like getting a bite to eat. Lisa Blackwood creates quite a unique world around our reality, populated by fascinating characters.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars wow...great book! April 16, 2012

By Marian H. Wright

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book...I'm also very glad that it had some depth ...cause i hate when I am enjoying a book and look down and my kindle shows 80% lol....lots of action, mystical creatures and of course romance...and I wish I had a gargoyle of my own like Gregory lol....can't wait for book #2 ...there is so much left in this story!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Gargoyles! May 2, 2012

By Tina

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I haven't read a great deal of fantasy, but books like Stone's Kiss make me want to read more. For me, this was a page turner. I enjoyed the fast-paced action. What I mostly appreciated was that the avatars were honorable and didn't give in to their feelings just because they wanted to, they understood the bigger picture. Lillian's dialogue cracked me up. Everyone else seemed to be aeons old but she spoke as a modern woman. Loved Gregory. I would like to have seen a little more of Jason and a few of the other characters and there were a few loose ends I want to have tidied up (what happened to Sara's child?), so I hope there is a sequel.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Why should we care? May 1, 2012

By AvidReader

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This story is solidly okay. The plot is very straight forward. There aren't really too many surprises. The story is tediously slow in developing, and the main characters verge on annoying. The more interesting, in my opinion, characters are never developed at all. In fact, most of the figures in the book suffer from too little depth. I would probably give the story about three stars.

Here's the thing. I realize what a challenge it is to turn out a product that is perfectly written. This book, however, is so imperfectly written, it is an affront. Hardly a page went by without a missing, misspelled, or improperly conjugated word, a glaring typo or some other problem. This was an issue throughout the book. Shoddy writing turned singular characters into plurals, sometimes within the same paragraph. In places, it was very difficult to follow the story simply because it read like a first draft. It was really inexcusable, and the author should be heartily embarrassed.

Some people might say that I'm a stickler about these things, and it's true, I am. My point is that it shows a lot of nerve for an author to expect readers to invest 7 or 8 hours of their time reading a book that the author didn't even care to proofread. If the author thinks so little of her work, why should we waste our time with it?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I really enjoyed my time in Blackwood's world October 22, 2012

By Mrs. W.

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed the world the author created. The conflict between the twins (the Lady of Battles and Lord of the Underworld) was intriguing. The layers of deception created to trap Gregory was cleverly done. Usually I figure out all the various plots and strategies too early. I was very pleased the author was able to leave me guessing for a long while and still keep the plot believable. The characters were very well defined and stayed true to who I thought them to be. I teared up several times, laughed out loud and worried about my favorite secondary characters. I'm happy there is another book by Blackwood. She definitely has my attention.
Some reviewers were so annoyed by grammatical flaws that they gave the book a very poor rating. I saw the errors but was honestly to interested to read the next sentence that I easily dismissed them. If you are a grammar nazi or a literature snob, I can understand your grievance, but for the majority of us who want to get to know some new and interesting characters and escape the world for a few hours, I doubt you will be disappointed. *snicker* I am now preparing myself for said nazis and snobs to trash my humble, uneducated little review. ;)

More About the Author

Lisa Blackwood grudgingly lives in a small town in Southern Ontario, though she would much rather live deep in a dark forest, surrounded by majestic old-growth trees. Since she cannot live her fantasy, she decided to write fantasy instead. An abundance of pets, named after various Viking gods, helps to keep the creativity flowing. Freya, her ever faithful and beloved hellhound, ensures Lisa takes a break from the computer so they can rid the garden of cats with delusions of conquest.