Jessica Tilles, Author & Publisher

The First Chronicle of Zayashariya: OUT OF NIGHT is a story of sorcery, slaughter, and struggle with self. Out of Night provides a spiritual twist that unites fantasy and science fiction with the battle with faith and the numinous world. Zayashariya abandons her birthright and escapes the planet Night on a spaceship destined for freedom. Once she flees, she unexpectedly arrives in the town of Wilzasp where she is blamed for the sudden rising death rate. The panic-stricken people seek to destroy her and she finds herself betwixt blood craving natives and demons chasing her through the realms. In the meantime, she is entangled within a concupiscent relationship with a prominent member of Wilzasp society and her love affair causes her to ponder the questions: Can a person truly change their nature? Can emotions blind reality? Is good and evil a distinctive definition or are there fine lines in which they blur into various shades of gray? Can love prevent you from seeing the inner demon in others? Is a spiritless world a realistic world?

From OldMustyBooks.com
By Rachel on Jan 29, 2008 in Authors, Featured, Genre, Review

I have been working really hard to read new literature. In fact, this is one of my goals for 2008 – to read a new book each month in a genre I wouldn’t normally gravitate to, from an author I’ve never heard of. So far this year, I’ve read four in that category.

The newest book I’ve just completed is coming out on February 1st. Searchable Whereabouts is a murder mystery with a great twist.

As context, when I received Searchable Whereabouts from Tinisha Nicole Johnson, I was starting the second section of Ulysses by James Joyce, the third short story in an EB White’s The Second Tree from the Corner and was several chapters into Stephen Crane’s Maggie the Girl From the Street. I knew ahead of time Tinisha’s book was not a usual genre for me, and I was curious about if it would grab my attention and how it would fit into my reading schedule.

Searchable Whereabouts fit perfectly! Its an easy read, great for vacation or a relaxing rainy day. The chapters are short, the vernacular is easy to understand, and there’s a little less than 300 pages. This is one of those books where you can get absorbed in the story not realizing several hours has passed.

Tinisha Nicole Johnson found a good balance of mystery, heartbreak, joy and romance; mixed it all together and came up with Searchable Whereabouts. Once I got sucked in – and it didn’t take long – I didn’t want to put the book down until I knew “whodunit”, how it was done, and why it was done.

The plot in this murder mystery was definitely intriguing and I found myself excited about all the twists and turns the story took. I think its important to note that I didn’t anticipate most of the twists before they happened in the story line. I really liked that even though the mystery was solved at the end, the ending was not what you would call a “happy ending”. I finished the book yesterday, and all day today, I’ve been wondering what happens to Rahkel now. How will the events in this novel affect her life? I don’t often read sequel books, but I’d be curious about Rahkel’s life, that’s for sure!

The telling of the story is done in the first person by the main character. The relationships built in this book were quite believable – in fact, I felt like I “knew” a few of them personally. The way the author continued to feed the reader information about the relationships throughout the book made each character functional to the story. The characters were “real” and the situations they were dealing with internally were dealt with in a real way.

I recommend this book to anyone who needs a break from heavy reading but wants a good plotline and realistic characters!

Visit Tinisha Nicole Johnson’s website to learn more: Writer/Author/Poet