Reading By The Beach

Formats

Hardcover
Ebook

Julia is finally discovering what–not who–she is.

Like any sixteen-year-old, Julia's used to dealing with problems. From her overprotective father to her absent mother to a teacher who definitely has it in for her. But everything changes when Julia's reactions become oddly vicious and angry---more animal than human. This action-packed adventure has it all: humor, romance, and a plot that will keep you guessing to the very last page.

Review
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

There was plenty of mystery within The Shapeshifter's Secret that fueled my intrigue and kept me interested, but I was just not wholeheartedly invested in the characters.

For one, I felt that the romance aspect was greatly lacking. I felt that the characters both fell in love too simply and this may be due to the fact that they weren't together very often. Plus, the whole time I was reading, I kept getting this feeling that this is only a prelude to the real romance which will take place in future books. I may be completely off base with that assumption, we all know what happens when you assume, right?

I was not a huge fan of Julia, but she did have great moments. She was completely unrelatable to me and I'm usually a reviewer that can relate to a lot of characters. The big thing that bothered me was Julia's obsession of the evil entity. I just didn't find it natural or normal as she kept trying to find a connection. I'm hoping that this was a process to show Julia's growth and to strengthen her resolve in the books to come. I don't blame her for being curious, but it was just too much for me.

However, the wheels in my head were in constant motion as little clues were strewn every so often, revealed at perfect moments to keep my interest piqued. The world that Heather Ostler created was beyond fascinating and even though I didn't love the characters, I loved the world and plot enough to be curious about the next book.

*Received my copy from NetGalley*

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Review: Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Series
Lies Beneath
(Book 1)

Genre
YA Fantasy Romance

Publication Date
June 12th, 2012

Publisher
Random House Children's Books
~Delacorte BFYR~

Available At
Amazon
Barnes & Nobles

Formats
Hardcover
Ebook

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistible good looks and charm on unsuspecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

Review
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars!

There are so many great things that Anne Greenwood Brown did with Lies Beneath that kept it refreshing and original. I was instantly blown away and eager to read every word as the story unfolded.

First, male point-of-view, do I need to say anything more? Probably not, but I will. I am so damn, unbelievably happy that male pov's are on the up rise. Oh, but that's not all. Usually we get saddled with the humans side of the story while the 'paranormal' person is cast in a dark, mysterious light (not a bad thing, I might add). Well, meet Calder. He's dark and a little mysterious and most importantly, he's a merman. And the story is told through his voice, which was absolute perfection. Also, this is the non-romanticized version of merpeople and I absolutely loved it. Brown casts them in a completely different light that portrays them in a much different way. It was fascinatingly eerie.

I loved the fact that Calder questions the nature vs. nurture thing. Am I a product of nature or nurture? It's such a profound question for him and it simply added to his depth, forming more of a connection. Lily was fabulous. Slow to trust, fights her attraction towards Calder and is just plain human(in a good way, fleshed out). I felt like I knew her.

I don't often need pretty words to transport me into a story, but Brown has a natural knack for writing that the prose was beautiful in itself. Descriptive. Vivid. Brilliantly flowing from sentence to sentence. I was mesmerized.

I'm recommending Lies Beneath to everyone. It was such an adventure that I was reluctant to say good-bye, but at least I (or we) can be mollified that there will be more to come.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Review: Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen

Series

Nightwatchers

(Book 1)

Genre

YA Paranormal Romance

Publication Date

May 29th, 2012

Publisher

Harlequin Teen

Available At

Formats

Paperback

Ebook

I don't do dangerous. Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha-that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back.

Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me....

Review
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

There are some awesome characters in Dark Kiss. Kraven and Bishop will be fast favorites as readers flock to their desired 'team'. One's a demon and the other is an angel, but don't let that define them. There are layers upon layers of Bishop and Kraven that Dark Kiss only allows a glimpse of. The surrounding characters were also well done. Between Zach, Roth, Connor, Stephen, Carly, and Natalie; they all have genuine characteristics that will endear them, make them suspicious, or a little of both. As for Samantha, was she my favorite female protagonist? No, but she is absolutely likable and had moments that made her shine. For the most part, I really enjoyed her voice. I have a feeling that Samantha is going to keep growing stronger as a character.

I completely loved the plot. I love when an author is fully capable of crafting a story that has twists and mystery that you didn't see coming, but should have. Sometimes the unanswered questions can be left unanswered for too long, but in Dark Kiss it was a more natural flow that captured and kept my interest. The romance was tingle inducing when it had the possibility of ending up in the 'insta-love' category. The struggles were tangible and helped make the romance glide in a more realistic way portraying the connection between them.

I labeled Dark Kiss as 'potential love-triangle' (meaning: possible love-triangle in the next installment) and you know how those drive me crazy, unfortunately not in a good way. There are a few that are well done and actually add the wanted tension instead of making me want to pull my hair out, so. . . I'm kind of interested to see how Michelle Rowan will play this out.

Wicked Kiss is the next in the series, and I'm curious to see what will happen.

*Received my copy of this title from NetGalley*

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Review: Believe by E. Leighanne Grimm-Weever

Thank you to the Goodreads group Shut Up & Read as well as the author for the opportunity to read and review this book

Genre

YA Paranormal Romance

Series

New England Immortals
(Book 1)

Publication Date

March 2012

Publisher

Self-Published

Available At

Format

Ebook

Andrea Dayla is about to start the next chapter of her life, college, leaving the only familyshe’s ever known behind. It was going to be scary enough being away from home in a strange city but little did she know Hanover had far scarier things in residence; the truth.

For Andrea, vampires were just part of the mythical stories her uncle had told her since as long as she could remember. She didn’t believe they exist until she meets the Brennen’s. Uncle Greg had always painted vampires in a bad light; pure evil more like. Andrea refuses to acknowledge Shane or his family as vile creatures.
Things were bad enough when she fell in love with Shane, she was mortal but of course it had to get worse. She discovers her family secret, they were immortal vampire hunters. Hunting and killing vampires to protect the humans was who she was, it was what she was made fore. Trouble is that the other part of her is ruled by her love for Shane and his family.
Torn between her love for a vampire and her loyalty to her kind, Andrea will have to make choices that will save a part of herself and destroy others. Too bad that’s not all she has to worry about… She’ll just have to believe!

Review
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I've had Believe sitting in my TBR pile for awhile and when I had the opportunity to snatch it up on Shut Up & Read, I did. I was eager to start because what can I say? I'm a sucker for vampires vs. vampire hunters. The ultimate forbidden romance, but I have to admit that I had an extremely hard time getting into the story.

The first half of the story I was just not feeling it at all, so I had to set it aside for awhile and consider if I was going to continue reading or not. I did continue reading, and I can say that the story and the writing did get marginally better, but I still wasn't completely satisfied.

Believe has a great concept behind it, it's interesting and very complex. . . there's a lot going on with many characters, but that great concept is hidden behind the many, many mistakes.

1. Grammatical errors. There are a lot of misspelled words, missing words, misplaced words, and some formatting issues and other editing errors along those lines. My eyes were constantly stumbling across them and it prevented me from being drawn into the story. One example, Chapter 20 has the first 3 paragraphs in bold text then every other paragraph after that.

2. Inconsistencies. Major downfall for a published work. I can understand one or two that were missed during revisions and editing, but Believe was riddled with them. It was quite frustrating, especially because I'm a details person, so those details stand-out to me and these were blinding me in the eyes. There's tiny inconsistencies and big ones. For example, I'm pretty sure that Shane's eyes are blue, but they were also mentioned as copper and honey then it was mentioned (18% through) that since he's a vampire his eyes change colors. But then, after that information his eyes are only mentioned as blue. Another example, Andrea wakes up at 6:20am for her first day of work, class starts at 7pm that night. She works all day then leaves work to make it to her class, then after class goes back to work and works again. I guess that's not an inconsistency, but isn't it highly unlikely? I mean that would have been a 10+ hour shift to begin with and then add in the other hours that she worked after class. There are other instances like this where it seems the author either forgot previous mentioned information or made it to her convenience to fit the story. The tiny ones have to do with time, placement of objects, name changes (two characters are mentioned with different names, only once each though). Frankly, there are lot and it extremely took away from the story, this was way more bothersome to me than the grammatical errors.

3. Some things are glossed over so if they may be apparent to the writer, they aren't going to be apparent to the reader. A popular example, Andrea begins waiting tables, she has two guys at one table who she refers to as 'ken dolls' (yes because they are rich and attractive, that's another issue that I won't get into. Massive stereotyping.) then she miraculously knows one of them is named Drake. Some reviewers have mentioned this and Grimm-Weever has been kind enough to explain that Andrea has class with him and it was kind of a light-bulb moment when she remembers his name. It doesn't read like that at all and those little moments are scattered throughout the book. I understand this problem, it's one I have issues with myself. It's hard to convey certain thoughts into words, but it should have been apparent with a re-read or the beta reader.

Believe does not read as a final draft, but as a first draft prior to revisions or editing. There is massive potential, but Believe really needs to be cleaned up and looked at again. The plot gets a lot better as you continue to read. I'm under the impression that E. Leighanne Grimm-Weever is in the process of going through each chapter to rectify the spelling mistakes, but those aren't the only issues that need to be fixed, so I hope she's taking time to go through the whole book. To me the inconsistencies are far worse than the grammatical errors, but I really enjoyed the plot, especially the second half of the story.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Review: Nocturnal by Chelsea Cameron

Thank you Chelsea Cameron for the opportunity to review Nocturnal!

Nocturnal (Noctalis Chronicles, Book #1)

Genre

YA Paranormal Romance

Series

Noctalis Chronicles (Book 1)

Publication Date

February 2012

Publisher

DRC Publishing

Available At

Format

Ebook

Seventeen-year-old Ava-Claire Sullivan isn't one for doing the expected. Especially when she finds out her mother's cancer is terminal. After a crying session in the local cemetery where she's attacked by one strange guy and saved by another, she doesn't call the cops. Because those guys definitely weren't your average hooligans.

And the one who sort-of saved her? Well, he's odd. He doesn't seem to breathe or smile or have anything better to do than wait in the cemetery for Ava to come back. Which she does. Call it morbid curiosity. Even after he warns her that he's dangerous, she can't stop wanting to see him, talk to him, be with him.

There's something about Peter that provides a much-needed escape from her mother's diagnosis and her tenuous relationship with her father. Even her best friends Jamie and Texas don't know what it's like to face death. But Peter does. He already has. He also made a promise a long time ago that could destroy both of them.

When everything in your life is falling apart, what are you willing to give up to hold onto the one thing that could last forever?

Review
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

"My mind goes to some strange places sometimes."

There are so, so many great aspects to Nocturnal that escalated my reading experience!

One. Chelsea Cameron took the ever popular vampires and spun them into a unique species that captivated me. They are unlike any vampires that I have ever read about and I'm more than interested to learn more about their history.

Two. Ava-Claire Sullivan. Period. She's an amazingly sarcastic, feisty and funny female protagonist that completely entranced me. There are so many lines that I highlighted for many different reasons, but most of all because they struck a chord in me. Chelsea Cameron managed to capture characteristics of a REAL person and portrayed them in a way that brought life to Ava. Here and there I became frustrated with Ava, but this wasn't an author induced flaw, it was more of how Ava chose to handle (or really not handle them) that frustrated me. I actually welcomed the frustration though, because it made Ava even more fleshed-out.

"I just listen and replay the moment when Peter pulled the rug out from under the normal world. Hell, he ripped up the floor of the real world, showing me a basement I didn't know was there, full of creatures I never thought existed."

Three. Tex and Jamie. Simply awesome supporting characters where the loyalty and friendship is palpable. Tex is just something else, she's crazy fun with a somewhat erratic personality but she's so lovable. Tex and Ava fit perfectly together, they are soulmate friends. Chelsea Cameron captured the essence of their deep friendship that they've had since 1st grade. Jamie is also a great character, but he's the more subdued of the three. More serious, but still readers will be falling for him. He's not in Nocturnal a whole lot, but I hope to see more from him in Nightmare (the second book).

Four. The slow budding romance. It's set at a more natural pace that I greatly appreciated. Peter and Ava appear more intrigued with each other at first and then it starts to evolve into something more.

Five. The snippets that we get from Peter. Am I a male perspective fan? Do you even need me to answer that question? I love being able to get into the male leads head anyway possible. Chelsea Cameron supplied me with that desired male perspective with those little snippets. They successfully added more depth to his character which was needed since he's prone to one-word answers when asked a question. He's quite intriguing despite the one-wordedness and I really want to know more about his life as a Noctalis.

With all that said, I did have some minor issues with some things. There were more than a few grammatical errors, but they honestly never hindered my reading, they were just mild annoyances. Also, there was an inconsistency with a name (not major since she wasn't in the story, just mentioned). Overall, I really enjoyed Nocturnal, more than appreciated the new take on vampires, and am very eager to see where the series will lead.

Recommended to YA readers who enjoy vampires, want a new breed of vampires, or YA readers who love paranormal romance. Plus, Nightmare (the second book) is already out, so you won't have to wait to continue the adventure!

Monday, April 30, 2012

Review: The Curse Girl by Kate Avery Ellison

I would like to extend gratitude to the Shut Up & Read group on Goodreads along with the author for the opportunity to read this book

Genre

YA Paranormal Romance

Publication Date

May 14th, 2011

Publisher

Self-Published

Available At

Format

Ebook

Paperback

When Bee is imprisoned in a magical, cursed house because of her father's selfish choices, she has just one plan... escape! But she must solve a riddle and help her fellow prisoners break the curse that binds them all before she can leave, and that is proving more difficult than she originally thought thanks to the bitter young master of the house, Will.

Will wants nothing to do with Bee or her help (and he certainly isn't planning on falling in love with her), but he might have underestimated just how determined and clever--and irresistible--she can be.

Review
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Beautiful cover, right? Plus, who doesn't like Beauty and the Beast? This story is bound to capture a lot of attention. It instantly captured my attention, but I would have liked to see more.

I like this book, the concept derived from Beauty and the Beast was extremely interesting. The story quickly grabbed my attention, making me entranced by the gorgeous words.

"A shattered chandelier lay three feet away, crystal droplets spread like frozen tears across the marble."

See? Gorgeous. Great imagery. Even the characters were fun, without any downright flaws, but my biggest thing with The Curse Girl is that it would have benefited greatly from a longer length. I liked the characters, but there wasn't really enough time to connect with them in a way that would have brought forth an even greater investment. I would have liked to see more of the budding feelings between 'Curse Girl' and 'Beast Boy' that would have lessened the instantaneous feeling that I got. I also would have liked to see a bigger interaction with the the other characters, because of the length, the story pretty much solely focuses on Bee and Will which isn't a bad thing, but it would have brought more emotion and better ties from me, the reader, to them, the characters. In other words, it would have rounded out the story more, adding depth. I know I'm not the only reviewer that has stated that the length should have been longer and honestly it's great how it is, but it would have been beyond fabulous if there was a little more detail. I know this because Kate Ellison has a talented writing ability that draws you into the world that she has created. There were just so many things that could have used more elaboration which would have only added layers to an already great story. Plus, there definitely should have been a more romantic ending!

The plot successfully kept me interested as they searched for the clues to break the curse, even twisting in unexpected ways at times. There were the obvious things that came from Beauty and the Beast, but there were also fresh ideas that made the story as fun and great as it was. There was one huge inconsistency that I found that didn't hugely subtract from my reading experience, but it was a big part of Bee as a character so it did take away from the magic of the story. If you've read the story, I'm sure you'll know what I'm referring to. It is firmly stated that Bee experiences something for the first time in a long while when I precisely remember reading about it happening twice prior to that moment.

A fast, fun read that shouldn't be missed, especially if you are a fan of fairy tales and um, Beauty and the Beast!

Would have benefited from a longer length, more time to develop those feelings instead of it being almost instantasouly. Definetly would have liked to see more character development with the secondary characters, could have also bennifited from that. Enjoyable, fun, but didn't produce a huge connection to Bee.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Review: Uncertainty (Gravity #2) by Abigail Boyd

I was very luck to win a copy from LibraryThing

Genre

YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Publication Date

March 22nd, 2012

Publisher

Self-Published

Available At

Format

Ebook

Last year, Ariel's life was ripped apart. She's finally started to put the pieces together again, and is looking forward to summer break. That's when a dream brings her back to the mysterious Dexter Orphanage.

With the return of an unlikely person in her life, Ariel begins to find out answers to the secrets that plagued her -- what was wrong with her grandmother? Why did Henry suddenly start dating the popular snobby girl whom he seemed to previously hate? And what really happened to Jenna?

As the threads are unraveled, Ariel realizes that she's peering into a world that no one else can see.

Review
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

There's no way to go, but up. And that is what Abigail Boyd has done. There were still some issues, such as grammatical errors and also some things that were mentioned twice, one example, someone jumped off a stage and a few sentences later jumped off the stage again. These are errors that are hard to ignore and something that isn't expected from a published work. There is no doubt that Abigail Boyd has a talent in weaving tales, but the story still came off as slightly unfinished.

One thing that stands out without any blatant flaws is the characters, they are all well-developed with Ariel pulling forward as a strong female protagonist. Abigail Boyd is definitely strong when it comes to characterizations, there is never a moment where the characters or dialogue seem forced or unnatural.

The plot still feels a little drawn out, there are things that are obvious, but the characters are oblivious to. Maybe that is the authors intentions, it's hard to tell. I can say that even though I know where the series is going, I have no idea how I will be taken there, and that's somewhat of a good thing. It lengthens the mystery yet at the same time frustrates me because it's a constant one step forward, two steps back plot. I want more information then what I'm fed, but I can admit that I'm fully reeled in.

My emotions were tugged at more than Gravity, most likely due to the fact that there were less errors, allowing me to concentrate on the story rather the wording. Also, there was more descriptive prose rather than bare sentences, which was a HUGE plus. I'm looking forward to the next installment, and if this is any indication, the writing will only keep getting better.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Review: Gravity (Gravity #1) by Abigail Boyd

Genre
YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Publication Date

May 13th, 2011

Publisher

Self-Published

Available At

Format

Ebook

One summer night in the town of Hell, Ariel Donovan's best friend goes missing. Everyone else believes Jenna ran away, but Ariel thinks something more sinister may have happened. She dreams of Jenna running to the abandoned orphanage in town, and then the building catching on fire. What does the orphanage have to do with Jenna's disappearance?

To complicate matters, a handsome new boy named Henry Rhodes has arrived in town, plaguing her with unwarranted attention. Even though she tries to stay away, she's drawn to him despite her best efforts, and can't help giving in to her attraction to him. Though he doesn't believe in the supernatural events that Ariel begins to witness, she enlists his help to figure out what is going on.
But when she discovers the truth, it's much worse than she ever feared.

Review
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

I was really intrigued not only by the cover(both of them), but by the blurb. I mean, a town called Hell? Yes, please! Possible ghosts? Pretty please!

I do like both covers, but I think I prefer the first one. I'm curious to know why the author changed it.

In a book where I should have been scared of the shadows the night casts, I wasn't. I was left feeling like an editor or beta reader. I liked the characters, I liked the direction the story takes you, but it just was not polished enough for me.

So here goes a nit picky review. . .

There were grammatical errors left and right. Simple things that happen to everyone as they type, but they should have been found and fixed. For example: she instead of the; ot instead of to; the instead of they or them; things like that. Things that usually don't bother me, bothered me. And I think it's because the sentences seemed to leave me wanting. They didn't have any emotion behind them, they weren't choppy, but close to it. They were bare. And, there was an actual sentence in the book that was an outline/placeholder, "She dreams she's in a white hallway with doors lining either side". How do I know it was an outline sentence/placeholder? Because it came after the paragraph explaining the doors and it's in third-person when Gravity is written in the first-person.

Like I said above, I did like the characters and the plot, for the most part. I kind of felt that the book was at a stand still, not really moving forward, just adding to the infuriating mystery of this town called Hell. I say infuriating because by the end of the book, I wasn't left with any spectacular, all-revealing information or the reasoning behind what was happening to Ariel. One thing did catch me by surprise, but that was eclipsed by ever present mystery that was never adequately solved.

Potential. That's the key word for Gravity. There is so much potential! The author, Abigail Boyd, successfully reeled me in, I just wish that the editing errors weren't present and there was more of an adventure to unravel the mystery. I was originally going to give Gravity two stars, but the author does have a creative mind that introduces a unique world and like I said, I was reeled in despite my aggravation of the many errors.

And, just so you know, I will be reading the next book, Uncertainty, because I simply need to know what the hell is going on in Hell. And because I do like the characters. Ariel has an endearing mix of toughness and shyness.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for providing me with an e-galley!

Genre
YA Paranormal

Publication Date

April 24th, 2012

Publisher

Harlequin Teen

Available At

Formats

Hard Cover

Ebook

Add it on Goodreads

In a future world, Vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

Review
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

First, take a gander at the cover, doesn't it make you want to take a peek inside? For me, it instantly drew me in, rendering me incapable of passing The Immortal Rules up.

The bar for YA female protagonists has been risen. To my delight, I've noticed that more and more of them are rising above the whiny brats that you would shake if you could. Allie, the female protagonist in The Immortal Rules, is no exception. She has risen to the top, but let's be honest, she probably hacked her way to the top with her ever-present katana. Yeah, she's a sword wielding bad-ass! In vampire books the reader is usually introduced to a human, but in The Immortal Rules, we get to see the first-hand struggles of a newborn vampire. One that fights against all odds to try to keep her humanity intact, a struggle that was brought to life by the first-person perspective. You all know that I'm a lover of first-person, it allows us to see into a character first-hand. Know what they are thinking and feeling at all times, it lends us an insight that is sometimes lacking in third-person. I am so glad that Julie Kagawa wrote this book in first-person, it wouldn't of had the same drive with anything less.

The Immortal Rules is split into three parts, each part takes on a different tone as the story progresses and little revelations are untangled, leading Allie in a new direction in her life. There isn't a huge amount of mystery, but there is still enough to slide the story along without it coming to a stand still. What pushes this story above is the dystopian/post-apocalyptic setting. The descriptions of the crumbling buildings and overtaking wildlife add the perfect touch of desolation. There's a lot of fighting and blood(duh!), but it never overpowers the story, if anything it pushes it another step forward. The sweet budding romance brought a lighter touch that balanced out the destruction. Sometimes the lighter romances can hinder instead of adding, but that was not the case. It's a slow build, with tantalizing teasers that will have you wishing the next book was already out. Each different aspect was a perfectly chiseled puzzle piece that fit into the bigger picture, bringing forth a vampire tale that will take the YA reading populace by storm.

If you are looking for a vampire book, pick this up. If you like zombie(or zombie-like creatures), pick this up. If you like dystopians with a post-apocalypse twist, pick this up. Just do yourself a favor and pick up The Immortal Rules.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Review: Ignite (Midnight Fire #1) by Kaitlyn Davis

I was lucky enough to get a copy through the Read It & Reap group on Goodreads, and, of course, the author

Publication Date
October 9th, 2011

Publisher
Self-Published

Available At
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Format
Ebook

"With one last look, one final search of the lines of his face for some sign, Kira turned and ran away from the sound of the man she loved laughing in the face of her death."

When Kira Dawson moves to South Carolina, she meets Luke, a blond goofball who quickly becomes her best friend, and Tristan, a mysterious bad boy who sends shivers down her spine. Kira knows they're keeping secrets, but when she discovers Tristan's lust for blood and her own dormant mystical powers, Kira is forced to fight for her life and make the heartbreaking decision between the familiar comfort of friendship and the fiery passion of love.

Review
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I love prologues that steep the story in a mysterious, tantalizing tone. A teasing snippet that fuels your hunger for more. That's what Kaitlyn Davis did with the prologue of Ignite.

I found Kira to be likable, she catapulted the story forward by being fiercely determined, smart, witty, and fun. The other characters were just as enjoyable, but I have to say that I was disappointed in Emma's (Kira's friend) character. She had moments where she was superbly excellent, but her parts were mostly dominated by the cliche of the overly talkative friend. I also found a tiny inconsistency with Chloe's (Kira's sister) age, she was either four or five, both ages were stated once. There was a bit of unrealisticness as Kira's parents were never 'parenting', I understand the reasoning behind it, but she was constantly getting into trouble (ie. after curfew, not coming home), but never once suffered any consequences.

In the first half of Ignite, I was pulled deeply into the emotions surrounding the three main characters. It seemed, though, that near the end the emotions started to taper off, leaving me lacking, but still intrigued. Ignite is a fairly new take on vampires and conduits (aka really cool vampire slayers). The history was well thought-out and the plot had some unexpectedness to it, but at the end, I again felt that it became a little too predictable. The ending gives the reader a complete end, but the knowledge that there is more to come. There were still a few mysteries that were left unsolved that will most likely come to play a bigger part in the future installments. I'm curious to see where the story will lead. I'm crossing my fingers that it's not going to turn out the way the sneak peek suggests.

Also, I don't want to be too picky, but even though I LOVE the cover, once reading the story, it doesn't quite fit with Kira and the way I imagined her. I get it, it makes complete sense, but she is described to have strawberry-blonde hair. That is not strawberry-blonde(I would know, I had it until my early twenties. And, yes, it was natural.), I would call it copper. Maybe if the colors were mixed a little bit more, not so chunky? I don't know, but it is still a fabulous, eye-catching cover.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Review: Kiss The Crystal Sun (Spellbound #2) by Penelope King

I was extremely lucky to receive this book in exchange for an honest review

Publication Date

March 15th, 2012

Publisher

Ascension Press

(Self-Published)

Available At