Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week and a review: Solomon’s Seal or the best mix of Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones!

Hello and happy Monday everyone! I hope you all are safe and happy! Today I am here to share with you all this lovely event hosted by Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub to promote, give support and share the love for self-published authors. I love to share some love, and since self-pub authors may be in need of more support and visibility I’d love to help!

All my posts for this week would be dedicated to indie author, and I have some reviews to share with you all for books that I loved and that, incidentally, I have read recently. Today protagonist is a book that I have read at the beginning of July, and I can’t believe we are nearing the end of it, and that I loved! It took me by surprise and it was a hell of a ride!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the Editor.

Just a minor thing, I received a copy of Magic & Mystery from Tyche Books, and this is a box with some series starters, and the first one was’t really my thing, but then I have started the second book in the box and it was love at the first sight!

Title: Solomon’s Seal
Author: Skyla Dawn Cameron
Series: Livi Talbot #1
Pages: 342

EX-DEBUTANTE. SINGLE MOTHER. TREASURE HUNTER.
Disowned and left penniless for getting pregnant at seventeen, former celebutante Olivia Talbot was willing to do whatever it took to provide for her daughter…including become a treasure hunter. Since the Pulse hit, activating relics of legend, there are plenty of artifacts to be had—not to mention wealthy clients willing to pay top dollar for them.
Just as her daughter’s private school tuition cheque bounces, Livi gets an offer that could be the break she needs to return to some semblance of her former life. A potential new client wants her to travel to Ethiopia and retrieve the Seal of Solomon—a mythical ring said to control demons and djinn—and this bounty comes with one hell of a financial pay off.
The deadline: a week. The team: unreliable. The competition: her world-renowned archaeologist older brother. Nothing Livi can’t handle… Except the danger goes beyond a few subterranean serpent-dragons she might encounter or tangling with her employer’s deadly second-in-command. This client isn’t all he seems, and handing him the ring might be worse than what he’ll do to her—and her daughter—if she doesn’t.

So, as I was saying, with this one was love at first sight! I went in blind, with no expectations and I was sweeped away by the story from the beginning. We start with a lot of action, and the things kept getting better and better. Liv is an amazing main character. She is resourceful, strong willed, sassy and with a big heart, but with a pragmatic strike to her.
She will not cower, she will not let the other dictate her life, and she is death set into give her daughter all the best.
And if we are speaking about Livi, then Tomb Rider meet Indiana Jones is really a good description for her, and for the book in general.
We have an amazing MC, even if I have to say that, from time to time, she can be a bit much. You have to suspend your belief a bit, because she is just too much sometimes. She is great at what she does (she is a sort of Relic Hunter, but with less morals, in some ways) but since she is a mere human and in her past there is ballett and all the best things in life, since her family is filthy rich (and now she is no more part of that, and this is pretty bad. I mean, her family is just bad! Okay, okay, not really all bad bad but… come on!!! Anyway, let’s get back to the point!), she cannot have developed all the skills that she shows us here, especially since she is top notch in what she did. Mind me, I loved the book and I loved Livi, but you have to suspend your belief a little bit, at last.

And since I am speaking about the characters, we have an interesting cast in there. We have an amazing friendship in there between two women, Livi and Pru, and I appreciated this a lot. Pru is an interesting side-kick, if we can call her that, and she is a force in her own right. And then we have Wes. He is your bad brooding boy, with a really big plus on his side (I won’t say more, because I don’t want to spoiler, even if I don’t think this would be a big spoiler but… better do not risk it!) and he is just swoon worthy. And yes, I may be shallow, but I can assure you that he is quite a good reason to read this book.

And then we have a really fast-paced plot, action packed and with caves and snake/worms/dragons/whatever they are are creepy and scaring. I was there, turning page after page because I couldn’t put it down. To be honest, this was the best start for my reading month, because since this one I have read a lot of good books that it was very hard to put down, so it is almost like this one was a sort of lucky charm for my reading. And this was a really nice plus, but really, I was hooked up, and I needed to know what was happening. We don’t really have a lot of mystery, the plot is pretty straightforward, but there is a lot happening, and the pace is never ever slow!

So if you are in need of something fast-paced, that would keep your interest alive and with an amazing main character (and a swoon worthy male character), well… search no more!!!
And let me tell you, that you need this book in your life! Right now!

And what about you? Have you read this book? Or have you read something else by this author? Let me know!!!

Happy reading!
S.