Review: Spells

Spells by Aprilynne Pike

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



In this installment, Laurel introduces us to Avalon, the home of faeries, where she spends some of her Summer training to be the Fall Faerie she was born to be. She also gets to spend more time Tamani. While in Avalon Laurel sees firsthand the class system faerie culture has, based on what Season you were born in. Springs do the menial jobs, Summers are the artists and are above Springs. Falls are the potion makers and are above both Springs and Summers. And Winters are so rare they are the ruling class above all other Seasons. Having been raised in a human environment this doesn’t sit well with Laurel.

Speaking of humans…Laurels Dad is all gung-ho about everything faerie and Mom has distanced herself from Laurel. Laurel is lost without her Mom and best friend and does everything to try and bridge the gap, but Mom just adds more distance. What’s a daughter to do?

Where to start? Hmmm…I was irritated with Laurel’s Mom throughout the book. As a mother, I wanted to beat some sense into her. I couldn’t imagine treating my child like that…and yes, I know Laurel is not her biological child, but so what, she’s always known Laurel wasn’t her bio-kid. ARGH! I did love the comic relief Laurel’s Dad provided with his zeal about all things faerie.

My esteem level for Tamani went way down. I loved that Laurel wanted to stand up to the whole faerie class system, but I hated Tamani’s “it’s always been this way”-crap! I want to scream whenever I hear that phrase…which made me root all the more for David. I like David, I think he is smart, thoughtful and a gentleman and he loves Laurel for what and who she is. Makes me want to swoon, it does.

There were a few twists and turns that I didn’t expect, not to mention a human group of troll hunters. I’m curious to see what’s to come with them. I’m assuming they will have a more prominent part in book 3’s storyline. Overall it was an enjoyable read.




View all my reviews

Review: Book of Love

Book of Love by Abra Ebner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A Character driven book, the story telling shifts between 5 major characters:
Jane – Watched her father die at the age of 7. Actually she was saved by an Angel and has become sheol. She sees how people die.
Emily – Jane’s 16 year old goth sister who is clairvoyant and takes drugs to keep from hearing everyone’s thoughts.
Wes – Neighbor and best friends with Jane but wants to be so much more. Emily is in love with him.
Max – Guardian Angel to Emily and believes he is her soulmate.
Greg – Max’s twin brother and a dark angel hellbent on hurting Max any way he can.

Basically Jane and Max are the main characters and the others are supporting. I have to say that I HATE JANE! She is so sniveling, put-upon and self-absorbed, it’s a wonder she can function. I did love the story (minus Jane) and the mythology Ebner created…Jane’s whining and pouting was just such a huge distraction. If it were up to me I would love to have seen Emily and Wes as the main characters. I purchased this and the sequel at the same time. Here’s hoping Jane pulls her head out of her arse in the next installment.




View all my reviews

Review: Intertwined

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Poor Aden, aka Haden, he’s been treated for Schizophrenia pretty much his whole life. He’s not Schizophrenic, he actually does have 4 separate souls living inside him, in addition to his own. It’s the talking to them that gets him into trouble…well that and the abilities each of the other souls has. One is able to raise the dead, one allows Aden to take possession of other bodies, one transports him into the past, and the last on is able to foretell someone’s death.

Aden is in a new group home in a new town when he meets Mary Ann. When he is around Mary Ann, the other voices in his head are eerily silent, give Aden a sense of peace he has never experienced. Aden and Mary Ann forge a fast and lasting friendship, a first for Aden. On their journey to figure out how to get the other souls out of Aden, they run into danger and supernatural creatures that all want Aden for themselves.

OK, gotta say I’ve read and enjoyed Gena Showalter’s books in the past…but no where near as much as I enjoyed Intertwined! Her previous books have been very straightforward…where Intertwined is so much more detailed and rich! It’s a character driven story with multiple plots that all converge seamlessly.

Aden is very different from other Supernatural protagonists, he’s very normal but for the fact that he has 5 souls instead of the usual 1. Any and all unusual abilities come from the additional souls…but having those additional souls has left this poor kid completely tortured mentally and emotionally. It’s a wonder he hasn’t walked in front of a city bus. You can’t help but root for the poor kid.

Then there is Mary Ann who is inexplicably drawn to Aden, but not in a romantic way, more like a long-lost friend. She is a problem solver and a future Psychiatrist who empathizes with what Aden must have gone through in his life.

Such a well written, richly detailed world Showalter has created. I’m off to the Bismarck Library in hopes that the next book in this series is still available for me to check out.




View all my reviews

Review: Dark Parties

Dark Parties by Sara Grant

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



16 year old Neva was born under the Protectosphere. In nation that isolated itself to protect their way of life and their beliefs. Neva is aware that people around her “disappear”, in fact, she keeps a hidden journal full of the names of those that were around one day then gone the next…like her Grandmother.

Neva and her friends want to rebel. They start small, but their act is turned around and viewed as a call for more government. Neva feels like she is being watched and it doesn’t help that her father is a high placed government official. Neva fights to find answers and maybe a way out from under the Protectosphere.

I loved Neva! She was so smart and a total pit bull. Once she got something in her head she just would not let go of it. Tenacious is a great word to describe her. Initially I thought she was going to end up being wishy-washy and that best friend Sanna was going to be the strong one, but I can admit when I am wrong.

There is a love-triangle, or rather a love-square. The romance aspect was good and I appreciated that the characters chose to abstain from sex, granted it was more a part of their rebellion against the governments push for all women to become baby-making machines. I’m such a non-conformist that I totally related to doing the opposite of what government wanted. LOL

The bit about the Protectosphere really reminded me of The Simpsons: Movie. A clear-ish, glass like dome covering your nation…Nothing comes in and nothing goes out, including upgrades to technology, the gene pool muddies, and life in general starts to break down. That, to me, is a scary thought! Then add xenophobia and a “Big Brother”-type Government…oohh, I just love dystopian books.!

The author did leave the ending wide open for a sequel. There has gotten to be such a push for multiple book series that I think some books are left wanting. I think I would have preferred that Dark Parties was a richer story by including a more fulfilling ending than withholding it in hopes of writing and selling a sequel. I hope that made sense.




View all my reviews

July Round-Up

How is it even possible that tomorrow is the start of August??? Where did the Summer go? We only have 17 more days before my son starts 7th grade! I will finish up the Summer Reading Program at my library...my first, and there were lots of lessons learned. I also read some great books! Here they are:

Book of Love (Knight Angels, #1) by Abra Ebner



Dark Parties by Sara Grant

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Spells (Wings, #2) by Aprilynne Pike

Betrayal (Immortal #2) by Gillian Shields

Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane

Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods #5) by Melissa de la Cruz

Glow (Sky Chasers, #1) by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Wanderlust (The Cordelia Chronicles #2) by Heather C Hudak

The Fallen: Demon (The Fallen #2) by Kristina Douglas

Raziel (The Fallen #1) by Kristina Douglas

Hourglass (Hourglass #1) by Myra McEntire

Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

Requiem (Providence #2) by Jamie McGuire

The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1) by Rae Carson

Providence (Providence #1) by Jamie McGuire

The Fallen (Nine Lives of Chloe King, #1) by Celia Thomson

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

GIVEAWAY!!!

A fellow blogger friend is having a really cool giveaway. Go follow her and enter her contest click the button below.

Review: Betrayal

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Evie returns to Wyldcliffe following winter break, anxious to reconnect with Sarah and Helen. She’s surrounded by teachers that are “Dark Sisters” and she’s worried that if she doesn’t figure out how to release the powers from her talisman using the Mystic Way she will lose Sebastian forever to the dark side.

I’m sorry but I was totally “meh” over this book. I couldn’t get it over with fast enough. Evie continually whined about possibly losing Sebastian. She was absolutely SURE she figured out how to release the powers about a half dozen times and was wrong…it was kind of like watching “House”. You know he is going to make 3 possibly deadly mis-diagnoses before he finally hits on the right one and saves the day. Add to that the perfectly normal human guy who is falling for her that she is oblivious to…but that her BFF Sarah has been longing for forever.

Meanwhile Sebastian is holed up somewhere, fading, writing to Evie hoping, in one breath, that she hasn’t forgotten about him, then in the next breath wishing she would forget about him and find someone and live a normal life. UGH way too much angst for me.

Personally, I am done with this series.




View all my reviews

Review: Children of Paranoia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Children of Paranoia” starts off with a stalking and a murder…which in itself is not unusual. I thought this murder would be the basis for the story. I was wrong! It was just the tip of a very large iceberg.

Joe is the murderer above, actually “trained assassin” would be a better title. Joe is a foot soldier in a war none of us know even exists. There are 3 rules of engagement for this war. 1) No killing of innocents. An innocent would be you or I who have no knowledge of this war. 2) No killing anyone under the age of 18. The children of those at war get a “free pass” until they turn 18 then all bets are off. 3) Give birth before 18 and your off-spring get turned over to the other side and thus become your enemy. Ouch! If that isn’t a good reason for birth control, I don’t know what is.

This was a riveting story told from Joe’s point of view. He’s actually writing his story in a journal for someone named Maria…who won’t become known to us for quite a while. Joe is sucked into this war, against an unnamed group, because they are responsible for killing virtually his whole family. We don’t know what started the war, or when. But if there are rules, than you can guess a few, if not all, are going to be broken. And if rules are broken, you might as well paint a big red bull’s eye on your back.

This was not my usual type of read…something about the blurb on Net Galley grabbed my attention, much like the rest of the book did. I was dying to find out what was going to happen to Joe, and was hoping we, the reader, would get some insight as to what prompted this war. It wasn’t until I finished the book that I found out this is just the first of a planned trilogy. The ending of Paranoia made it clear there would definitely be a second book at the very least.

The story was a roller coaster ride. I mean Joe is an assassin so there is some graphic violence, but then add to that the fact that you don’t know if the person standing next to you is friend or foe…hence the need for a healthy dose of paranoia which could keep you alive.




View all my reviews

Review: Glow

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Won a copy of "Glow" through FirstReads on www.goodreads.com!!

The story centers around Kieran and Waverly, the leaders of the first generation to be born out in space. They are on the ship Empyrean. One of two ships bound for New Earth. New Horizon left 43 years ago with mostly a christian contingent. Empyrean left a year later with a mostly secular group. Now New Horizon is hiding in a nebula, waiting to ambush Empyrean. But what could cause one ship to attack it’s sister ship?

This was a riveting story that I started and finished today...just couldn't put it down! The story is fast-paced with tons going on…especially on Empyrean where life is becoming a battle for survival. There were times I just had to put the book down and walk away for a breath of fresh air and hope my beating heart would return to it’s normal rhythm again.

The narrative shifts telling the story from both character's point of view which adds so much to this story because the author handles it beautifully. Ms. Ryan breaks the story up into parts where several chapters are told from the same character’s perspective. This added to the impossibility of actually putting the book down!

I loved all the delicious irony running through the story. The storyline twists and turns right up to the very last page. Parts of the book reminded me of “Lord of the Flies” while other parts reminded me of “Mockingjay”…political intrigue with the added twist of religious dogma…add to that the inability to tell the good guys from the bad guys…or are they all shades of grey? I guess it depends on your perspective.

I’m telling you…YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK! And where will Amy Ryan take the story from here?? Oh…lots of questions!!!






View all my reviews

Review: Wanderlust

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Wanderlust” picks up right where “Breathless” stops. In fact it overlaps a few pages. We pick up with Addie, Lia, and Eli at the airport heading for Europe. A trip Lia and Addie planned prior to Lia meeting and falling in love with Chaysen. However the trip comes at a prime time when Lia needs some time away to decide if she wants to pursue a relationship with Chaysen and all that comes with him…or settle for a “normal” existence. Chaysen has enlisted Eli to go with the girls and protect them should Alexei still be stalking Lia.

I picked up “Wanderlust” thinking it was a different series. Once again it was an OK read….fast. Lots of traipsing across Europe and running into people from Chaysen’s past which made for lots of discomfort for Lia…especially running into a past love.

It still really reminded me of the “Twilight” series. I can’t think of anything new or interesting to say in this review that hasn’t already been said about Bella and Edward. Lia is as self-centered and whiny as most 17 year old protagonists. Chaysen is magnanimous and humors her childishness due to the maturity and experience that comes with living for centuries, yada, yada, yada.

I think more than anything I enjoyed it for the twist ending. I will be picking up the next book in the series to see what happens.




View all my reviews