I am delighted to announce that Gabriel picked up three 5 star seals when reviewed by Readers’ Favorite recently. It’s always slightly nerve wracking waiting for these to come in, but I couldn’t be more pleased at the outcome. Just as a heads up for other indies who may be considering this – these reviews are not permitted to be added to the normal Amazon customer review list, but you can add them through Amazon Author Central in editorial reviews and they still show up on your page.
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Completed on:
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08/18/2016 | |
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Review Rating:
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5 stars! | |
| Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite
The Making of Gabriel Davenport is a dark urban fantasy written by Beverley Lee. Beth Davenport woke up that morning after a strange night of disquieting dreams, but soon her mind shifted from reliving those images to focusing on having a cup of tea before her six-month-old baby woke up. The farmhouse was still new and strange to her and her husband, Stu. They wanted somewhere special for their infant son to grow up in, and exchanged their suburban tract home for this rambling home, blissfully unencumbered by close neighbors. As she pottered about, her mind lingered on the box Stu had insisted on buying at that antique shop they visited during their holiday. Beth remembered the shop owner putting on gloves before handling it and had wondered about it at the time. That box was sitting there with their suitcases from their week-long holiday. She didn’t really understand why the box caused her to feel so uneasy, but it did, and when Stu was called into the office ahead of schedule, she decided to do something about it. Beverley Lee’s dark urban fantasy, The Making of Gabriel Davenport, is not the kind of book you dive into and stay up all night until you’ve finished. It’s entirely too big and definitely too good a read to devour all at once. Spend a few days in Gabriel’s world — I’m fairly confident that you’ll be very glad you did. Lee’s evil entity is one of the scariest literary monsters out there, and Clove, her dark angel/knight in shining armor, is unforgettable and larger than life. The author peoples Gabriel’s world with fascinating characters who are heroic at times in their struggle to protect Gabriel and survive the siege of an ancient and evil demon. The Making of Gabriel Davenport is a finely plotted and beautifully written literary fiction masterpiece, and I’m thrilled that there’s a sequel in the works. It’s most highly recommended. |
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Completed on:
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08/27/2016 | |
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Review Rating:
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5 stars! | |
| Reviewed By Leah Gonzalez for Readers’ Favorite
The Making of Gabriel Davenport by Beverley Lee is a well-written and utterly suspenseful dark fantasy novel. The story begins when Gabriel is just a baby. Stu and Beth, along with their baby boy Gabriel, are settling in nicely in a new town. Things are going fine until one stormy day when something evil invades their lives and changes everything. Years later, Gabriel is 15, living with a special group of people, and he longs to find out what really happened that day. The people around him aren’t telling him everything and strange things are happening in the place he calls home. The evil is back to finish what it started. This is a really interesting read. The Making of Gabriel Davenport is incredibly well-written, fascinating and gripping. Once you start, you can’t put it down. There’s always something that grabs you on every page and there’s always something that makes you want to keep reading. The story itself is intriguing and Beverley Lee writes in a very descriptive and vivid way so that you can really imagine in your head what everything looks like and feels like, and how things are unfolding. She also has a knack for bringing to life such interesting characters. Gabriel is someone you would really feel for and root for. The other characters are also developed well and you can’t help but root for all of them as well. This book feels more like a classic horror than a fantasy and I enjoyed reading it. I think fans of horror and dark fantasy will enjoy it too. |
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Completed on:
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08/12/2016 | |
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Review Rating:
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5 stars! | |
| Reviewed By Divine Zape for Readers’ Favorite
The Making of Gabriel Davenport by Beverley Lee is a masterful blend of horror and fantasy, a well-crafted story that will make readers shiver as they follow this exciting adventure into the dark places of the story. Something happened in Meadowfield Bridge that tragically affected the lives of Gabriel Davenport’s parents and, consequently, his own life, something that has silently haunted him for years. Many years later, and now an adult, Gabriel sets out to confront his past, but little does he know that what he’ll face could cause his ultimate demise. Can’t he just choose to live quietly and normally rather than face a darkness as irresistible as it is unforgiving? Beverley Lee is a new voice in the world of fantasy and horror, one that will be adored by fans of this genre. As an indie and a first-time author, her writing is surprisingly excellent. The plot is wonderful and there is a lot of darkness in the book to make readers look over their shoulders as they turn pages. You are gripped from the very opening and by powerful lines of the story, laced with imagery and symbolism: “She dreamed in grey, the color of misery. The pall bearers lowered her coffin into the ground. She banged on the lid, bloody fingers clawing at the wood. But she wasn’t trying to get out. She was trying to get in.” Things only get better and better as one reads on, and the tension builds with the sense of mystery and impending danger brushing endlessly on the edges of one’s heart. The characters are very exciting and real; it takes a lot of skill to make an impossible story believable, even lovable. It takes greater skill to make anyone fall in love with darkness and Lee has got all of these. Excellent writing, beautiful plot, great characters, The Making of Gabriel Davenport is one of those stories with great potential for a horror movie, a breathless, breezy read. |
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beverley lee writes 