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Coins Not Accepted
"Bring me the contents of the security box from the bank, and make sure you're not followed." Miles Carter carries out his grandfather's instructions, and finds himself caught up in a dangerous tangle of family mysteries - and the unexpected return of Allan Warwick, his childhood friend. Add to that a parallel world and a plot to overthrow its government, both of which seem to involve his grandfather and Allan. Miles' life will be changed irrevocably, but only if he and Allan can stay together and survive the coup.
185 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2017
24 people want to read
About the author
Chris Quinton
47 books99 followersChris started creating stories not long after she mastered joined-up writing, somewhat to the bemusement of her parents and her English teachers. But she received plenty of encouragement. Her dad gave her an already old Everest typewriter when she was about ten, and it was probably the best gift she'd ever received – until the inventions of the home-computer and the worldwide web.
Chris's reading and writing interests range from historical, mystery, and paranormal, to science-fiction and fantasy, mostly in the male/male genre. She also writes male/female novels in the name of Chris Power. She refuses to be pigeon-holed and intends to uphold the long and honourable tradition of the Eccentric Brit to the best of her ability. In her spare time [hah!] she reads, embroiders, quilts and knits. In the past she has been a part-time and unpaid amateur archaeologist, and a 15th century re-enactor.
She currently lives in a small and ancient city in the south-west of the United Kingdom, sharing her usually chaotic home with an extended family, two large dogs, fancy mice, sundry goldfish and a young frilled dragon (Australian lizard) aka Trogdorina.
Chris's reading and writing interests range from historical, mystery, and paranormal, to science-fiction and fantasy, mostly in the male/male genre. She also writes male/female novels in the name of Chris Power. She refuses to be pigeon-holed and intends to uphold the long and honourable tradition of the Eccentric Brit to the best of her ability. In her spare time [hah!] she reads, embroiders, quilts and knits. In the past she has been a part-time and unpaid amateur archaeologist, and a 15th century re-enactor.
She currently lives in a small and ancient city in the south-west of the United Kingdom, sharing her usually chaotic home with an extended family, two large dogs, fancy mice, sundry goldfish and a young frilled dragon (Australian lizard) aka Trogdorina.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Did Not Finish
September 6, 2020DNF @ 40%, but I wouldn't want to discourage anyone who's interested in this. For me I think it was a case of the (potentially) right book at the wrong time.
The premise is that there's an alternate-history England lying in a dimension adjacent to ours, accessible only to those in the know via a handful of secret portals. The obstacle that proved insurmountable for me was the necessity of learning about the politics and political history of alt-England, since the MC from that world is fighting against threats to the current government. Ai-yi-yi, I'm not even interested in politics in the real world -- yet am being forced by current events to pay close attention anyway -- so I had not one single brain cell to spare for political skullduggery in a fictional world.
The characters were interesting, though, and I found the writing style appealing, so I'll gladly give this new-to-me author another chance.
The premise is that there's an alternate-history England lying in a dimension adjacent to ours, accessible only to those in the know via a handful of secret portals. The obstacle that proved insurmountable for me was the necessity of learning about the politics and political history of alt-England, since the MC from that world is fighting against threats to the current government. Ai-yi-yi, I'm not even interested in politics in the real world -- yet am being forced by current events to pay close attention anyway -- so I had not one single brain cell to spare for political skullduggery in a fictional world.
The characters were interesting, though, and I found the writing style appealing, so I'll gladly give this new-to-me author another chance.
August 22, 2017
Wow - what just happened to me? The world building Chris Quinton does in this book is spellbinding. I was completely engrossed in the parallel world she'd created and wondered how the hell she came up with this stuff! Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Tense. Cerebral. Romantic. It was all in there and left you feeling completely satisfied at the end, but if there is a sequel, I'm right on it!
And I tell you something, I won't be able to look at a telephone box the same way again! Quick, go get your copy!
And I tell you something, I won't be able to look at a telephone box the same way again! Quick, go get your copy!
Did Not Finish
April 13, 2022DNF @ 24%
August 8, 2017
~ 3.5 Stars ~
Coins Not Accepted is definitely one of those surprise books for me. The first few times I scrolled on by it because the cover really didn’t grab my attention or make me want to check out what the story could be about at all. When I finally decided to take a look at the blurb, I realized it sounded right up my alley. I’m glad I decided to give it a shot, and now the cover makes a ton more sense to me—I can see how it fits.
So, we have Miles. Miles’ mom and his grandfather had something happen years ago, and now they are estranged. Miles and his little sister and brother were taken away, and never were told what happened, except that his Grandfather is known to be a bit of an odd duck and paranoid as all get out. But unbeknownst to his family, Miles has maintained contact, if only from a distance. Flash forward to a random e-mail received from his cray-cray Grandad one day, and Miles learns maybe he isn’t as crazy and paranoid as everyone seems to have thought.
This story has really interesting world building. It was a bit rough at times for me. The parallel world relies significantly on England’s history and landscape as references, and for me it was a wee bit perplexing. That isn’t a knock on the book, though; it’s because I suck at history and geography. I am straight-up clueless, other than classes I took in high school which conveniently decided not to come out and play while I read this story. So, yes, I was confused in some ways, but I liked the references because I found myself googling after I finished up a chapter or when there was something I wanted to understand a little more. It made the reading portion slower going for me, in the long run, but I learned things so that was pretty cool.
The characters are well developed, and I felt for Miles as he was hurdled into a situation full-speed that just kept getting more and more complicated. Political machinations mixed with an unfamiliar world to learn, one filled with a deeper level of bigotry and hate than Miles had ever personally experienced, made for an interesting plot. Allan (Lan) had me intrigued. I. Can’t. Even on how he was continually treated in his world, and how he was resigned in ways. It was heartbreaking to read about the terms they used, and how, as soon as his name was spoken, the change in people’s demeanors occurred. He was such a wonderful character because despite all of the crap he had to take, he embraced who we was and even used it to his advantage, making his own way.
This is not the story for you if you are looking for lots of on page hot times. Though it is clear Miles and Lan get romantically involved, and there are kisses and sweet moments, you get fade to black scenes before the plot picks back up and takes off again. Though I do enjoy on page scenes, I am also good with the choice to not explore it on page and focus elsewhere, as long as the rest of the story is interesting and I can become invested. The choice in this case worked well, and I don’t feel I missed out on anything significant, as the dialogue, with just enough intimacy and physical touches, created the connection between the two.
I quite enjoyed this fairly unique story with its intriguing world building and interesting plot, even if I had to spend some time on the internet to figure out some of the historical and geographical references.
Reviewed by Lindsey for The Novel Approach
Coins Not Accepted is definitely one of those surprise books for me. The first few times I scrolled on by it because the cover really didn’t grab my attention or make me want to check out what the story could be about at all. When I finally decided to take a look at the blurb, I realized it sounded right up my alley. I’m glad I decided to give it a shot, and now the cover makes a ton more sense to me—I can see how it fits.
So, we have Miles. Miles’ mom and his grandfather had something happen years ago, and now they are estranged. Miles and his little sister and brother were taken away, and never were told what happened, except that his Grandfather is known to be a bit of an odd duck and paranoid as all get out. But unbeknownst to his family, Miles has maintained contact, if only from a distance. Flash forward to a random e-mail received from his cray-cray Grandad one day, and Miles learns maybe he isn’t as crazy and paranoid as everyone seems to have thought.
This story has really interesting world building. It was a bit rough at times for me. The parallel world relies significantly on England’s history and landscape as references, and for me it was a wee bit perplexing. That isn’t a knock on the book, though; it’s because I suck at history and geography. I am straight-up clueless, other than classes I took in high school which conveniently decided not to come out and play while I read this story. So, yes, I was confused in some ways, but I liked the references because I found myself googling after I finished up a chapter or when there was something I wanted to understand a little more. It made the reading portion slower going for me, in the long run, but I learned things so that was pretty cool.
The characters are well developed, and I felt for Miles as he was hurdled into a situation full-speed that just kept getting more and more complicated. Political machinations mixed with an unfamiliar world to learn, one filled with a deeper level of bigotry and hate than Miles had ever personally experienced, made for an interesting plot. Allan (Lan) had me intrigued. I. Can’t. Even on how he was continually treated in his world, and how he was resigned in ways. It was heartbreaking to read about the terms they used, and how, as soon as his name was spoken, the change in people’s demeanors occurred. He was such a wonderful character because despite all of the crap he had to take, he embraced who we was and even used it to his advantage, making his own way.
This is not the story for you if you are looking for lots of on page hot times. Though it is clear Miles and Lan get romantically involved, and there are kisses and sweet moments, you get fade to black scenes before the plot picks back up and takes off again. Though I do enjoy on page scenes, I am also good with the choice to not explore it on page and focus elsewhere, as long as the rest of the story is interesting and I can become invested. The choice in this case worked well, and I don’t feel I missed out on anything significant, as the dialogue, with just enough intimacy and physical touches, created the connection between the two.
I quite enjoyed this fairly unique story with its intriguing world building and interesting plot, even if I had to spend some time on the internet to figure out some of the historical and geographical references.
Reviewed by Lindsey for The Novel Approach
September 15, 2017
You can ready my review of “Coins Not Accepted” at my web site.
July 12, 2017
Fascinating. It's a very strange story but I loved it. Strong story, well developed characters.
December 3, 2017
2017 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Coins Not Accepted Chris Quinton
1) Great book, great worldbuilding, a tad too much info dump. But I loved it.
1) Great book, great worldbuilding, a tad too much info dump. But I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews