So I recently started a new blog for my handspun yarn and fiber art Etsy site. You can check it out if you want! The Blog is KittyMeow Spinnery, and it is going to go along with my KittyMeow Spinnery Etsy store. When I logged onto the Blogger, I saw that this Blog has over 7500 views, which is RIDICULOUS because I haven't updated it in 3 years. I didn't stop reading, but I did slow down on reading. I got frustrated with some books and series...but I did get into some new series, which I am going to review. Give me a few days to get my stuff together!
The long awaited sequel to the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I waited so long for John Matthew's story. From the very beginning, I knew he would have a great story, and the wait was worth it. I actually bought this book a while ago, but just recently got around to reading it. This story is absolutely heartbreaking. It pulls together a lot of the loose ends involving John Matthew, and at the end of the book the reader is left pretty positive that JM is indeed the reincarnation of Darius, and the book flips back and forth between how Darius, Torhment, and Xhex are intertwined with JM and the current-day story. It keeps the book entertaining and thrilling until the end.
First of all, don't read this book unless you've read the previous books, especially Lover Avenged. There, the backdrop for this particular book is set up. All of the characters are very familiar if you've read the series, and it's really nice to see a reprieve by Vishous and Wrath and the crew. We still see lots of tension between Blay and Quinn, but this story focuses more on them than the other books. So it was nice getting to really know them.
In the end of Lover Avenged, Xhex has been kidnapped by Lash and the Lessers. We're left wondering if John Matthew will have a happily ever after or not. I won't go into a ton of the details about the book, because it'd be better to just read it and experience it that way. I've gotta say though, that I was NOT a fan of the JM/Xhex pairing, and by the end of the book, I totally loved them. Definitely worth the read, especially for hardcore fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.
J.R Ward is also involved in writing her Covet series right now, but I'm hoping we'll see more from the Brotherhood!
So recently, I became so engrossed in a series that I literally could not stop to write a review. Now, I'm kicking myself because I don't know if I'd be able to write a good review for each book, starting at book one. So I decided to look at the series as a whole. This is a paranormal romance series, so there is a fair amount of sex. It's not ridiculous like some romance novels. It's very much like the structure of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward. Each story revolves around what life-long romance each Lord finds, but has a very intricate and detailed background full of sub-plots that fit in with the rest of the story. If you read this series, don't forget the little mini-installments! The prequel, The Darkest Fire, book #3.5 The Darkest Prison, and book #4.5 The Darkest Angel. Worth the time!
First off, people on www.goodreads.com have been pushing me for months to pick up Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld. I put it off for a while, because I figured if I've read one or two (or thirty) paranormal romance series, there isn't much that can impress me. So I put it off, and put it off, and one day I found a real steal in the Kindle Books section of Amazon. Why pay $5-$7 a book, when you can buy the Gena Showalter Lords of the Underworld Bundle for $9.99? So I figured, meh, for ten bucks I can get the prequel and the first three full installments. Why not. So I went ahead and spent the $9.99, and the Bundle sat on my Kindle for a few more months.
So now you're wondering why I even bothered if I spent that long putting it off. Well, at work, I was bored and had listened to most of my audiobooks, but still hadn't listened to the prequel of the Lords of the Underworld series, The Darkest Fire. I remember on Amazon, people saying, "don't judge the series by the prequel! Keep pushing through to the first full book!" I tried listening to the prequel a few times, and finally got into it. Then I remember, alas, I have the Bundle on my Kindle!
A quick background on my new-and-beloved Lords: Thousands of years ago, the Lords were heavenly guards of the Greek Gods. They made a bad decision, and decided to open Pandora's Box (you learn how the box came to be in the prequel to the series.) When the Box was opened, the High Lords, basically the top demons of Hell, who had been trapped there for an eternity, were released into the world. The Greek God, Zeus, was furious, so he condemned the soldiers who opened Pandora's Box to each house one of the demons inside themselves. Some of our main characters have very very violent demons. Maddox houses Violence, Lucien houses Death, Reyes houses Pain, Sabin houses Doubt, Paris houses Promiscuity...etc. They each have their own specific curse. On the other side of the story, we have Hunters; humans who believe the Lords are the specific reason for all evil in the world, so they are hellbent on destroying the Lords and re-capturing the demons to save mankind. (This is where the argument of human free will comes in.) The Lords have accepted their fate. They don't want to hurt anyone, but want to keep humans safe by housing the demons. Then they find out that the Hunters are led by one of their own...Galen, keeper of the demon Hope.
I re-read The Darkest Fire, then from there didn't put my Kindle down for the remainder of the Bundle. I flew through The Darkest Night. I really love Maddox's and Ashlyn's story. I really love tortured Maddox who was paying for a crime committed thousands of years ago. Each night, Pain and Death had to come and kill Maddox and escort him to Hell, where he is reborn and wakes up in the morning alive. Each night, he dies and each morning, he is reborn. Ashlyn is a "special" human who can hear conversations of anyone who has ever stood where she is standing, and has no idea how involved in Maddox's world she really is. I rated this book five stars. I just loved it.
The Darkest Kiss tells Lucien's and Anya's story. Something amusing, is that after I read this book, I looked on my real-life bookshelf...and oh snap! I have this book in hardback. Anyways, Anya's character is hilarious. As the (minor) goddess of Anarchy, she spends most of her time pissing off the Gods, stealing and showing way too much skin, all while harboring her own secret curse. She develops cute names for all the big and bad warriors, such as Doubtey and Painey. I rated this book four stars.
We meet Danika in the first book, but her story isn't told until The Darkest Pleasure, where she meets her match in Reyes, who harbors the demon Pain. Reyes is tormented at every moment. The only way to cope with his demon is to constantly cut himself. He even goes as far as to throwing himself off the fortress tower. To Reyes, pain is the same as pleasure. Until he meets Danika, who proves to be more important to the Lords and their quest to defeat the Hunters than she ever knew. I rated this book five stars, mainly because I was so excited to read it! I loved the spark Reyes felt for Danika from the first book, and was not disappointed!
The Darkest Whisper tells Sabin's story. Sabin rescues Gwen at a Hunter research compound, and soon learns that she has immortal powers of her own. She is an all powerful harpy, also cursed by the Gods, and proves to be one of the strongest fighters among all of the Lords. I rated this book four stars. I really liked it, but Sabin is not one of my favorite characters. Still a great book.
The Darkest Passion turned out to be one of my FAVORITE of the Lords of the Underworld books. I was never a huge fan of Aeron, keeper of Wrath, until this book. Aeron is very distant throughout the entire series. But when he discovers that the being who has been following him is the angel Olivia, he soon has to choose between living for today and choosing love or keeping himself from getting hurt and living forever. Olivia gives up everything for him, choosing to fall from the Heavens rather than following orders to kill Aeron. Olivia has some competition, however; Aeron's demon pet, Legion. If I could rate a book six stars, this book would get it. I read this book as often as I could for two days...didn't put it down. I loved it.
I loved all of the books, but felt the most connected with Maddox's, Reyes, and Aeron's stories. Luckily, there are more to come! Gideon, keeper of Lies' book should be out by the end of June. One story I'm particularly looking forward to is Paris'. I won't give away too many details about Paris, because his story develops throughout the entire series up to this point. Another character that I just loooove is Galen. Yes, the villain, the big bad, the guy who is leading the Hunters under the false pretense that he is an angel. I. Love. Galen. Especially in the last book. While part of me is hoping that he'll get what's coming to him, another part is hoping that Showalter will write something from his point of view.
I highly recommend this series. I couldn't put the books down long enough to write a review! For me, reading the Lords of the Underworld was like experiencing the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward for the first time. It's a magical series that will sweep you off your feet.
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In other news, I finally started reading Lover Mine by J.R. Ward; the most recent installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, which I've mentioned a few times.
The Reckoning is the third and final book in the Darkest Powers trilogy, and concludes Chloe's, Derek's, Simon's and Tori's escape from the Edison group.
Some quick back story: Chloe and the group and genetic experiments on "supernaturals". Labeled "trouble children", they're put into a group home called the Lyle House. Chloe soon realizes that she isn't crazy; she can see ghosts. And the people holding her there are observing her, trying to figure out if she should be "terminated" or not. Upon discovering this, she escapes with Derek (a werewolf), Simon (a sorcerer) and Tori (a witch.) They are on the run for most of the first two books. In the third book, The Reckoning, they find a safe place with a friend of Simon and Derek's father. However, they soon discover that perhaps their safe-house isn't as safe and they had hoped.
While I really liked this book, and the whole series, the book ended with a lot of loose ends. Many questions were not really answered. Why does Chloe's necklace change colors? Will she be able to communicate with her mom? What happened with the Pack? Will Liz be able to find peace and perhaps move on? Will Chloe's dad find out that she is safe? They series ended leaving room for a lot of development, which we might see in Kelley Armstrong's next young adult series, starting with The Gathering.
Some parts of the book got a bit confusing, too. After a while, I forgot who was with who, who was on whose side, and which group was which group. The Edison Group is the group who conducted the experiments, but there were teams within the Edison Group that quit and tried to help the supernaturals, and then there were members within that group who were back-stabbing everyone. After a while, it got muddled together. The end of the book was very quick-paced, too...and seemed to come out of nowhere. Chloe uses her demon friend she made in the first book to help her escape the Edison Group compound, so that kind of came as a surprise.
I liked the tentative romance between Derek and Chloe. I was rooting for them from the start--I really like Derek as a character. He's loyal (woof) and will do anything to protect Chloe and his brother. Chloe's character also develops enormously over the series. She goes from a meek, stuttering, shy girl...to a girl who can defend herself and make her own decisions. She didn't start out as it, but she ended as a strong young woman who will potentially fit well with Derek.
All in all, the book was good. I enjoyed this young adult series. It started out a bit slow for me, but once I go into the first book, it was addictive!
Burned by P.C and Kristen Cast is the seventh book in the House of Night series, and takes place after Zoey’s soul has shattered and she is trapped in the Otherworld. I gave it three stars, because while I enjoyed the story line and the theme of the book, I felt it could have been written better. A lot better.
The House of Night series follows a group of friends who meet at the House of Night after becoming fledglings. In the series, young teens are “marked” and enter the pre-vampire stage where their bodies change into full vampire. They move to the House of Night where they learn Vampire ways and customs, and how to live among humans. The series follows Zoey Redbird, who progresses faster than others to becoming a vampire and has an affinity for water, air, fire, earth and spirit, and her friends Stevie-Rae, Damien, Jack, Shaunee and Erin. In previous books, the friends have worked together to overcome normal teen problems, but the books get progressive darker when an immortal, named Kalona, is awakened from his earth-grave and tries to take over the world.
In the previous book, Zoey witnessed Kalona kill her human love, Heath, and as a result her soul is shattered and she exists in a world in between life and death.
I’ve been a big fan of the series, despite negative reviews that the books are written poorly and the language is very child-like. This hasn’t bothered me until this book. I’ve always been able to enjoy the story line enough that the other flaws haven’t bothered me, and while I liked this book, there were certain elements that made it difficult to read.
The writing style is something that stuck out this time that bothered me. There was WAY too much dialogue, and the conversations were extremely cheesy and childish. While reading the dialogue, I’m left thinking “who even talks like this?” Stevie-Rae, who customarily has a southern accent and comes up with interesting phrases, even confused me. I felt that it was way overdone. And Kramisha has always been a character that really bothers me. Really…speak English. I had a difficult time reading her because the "ebonics" was taken to an extreme level.
That being said about Kramisha, most of the characters didn’t bother me, but I did miss the regular gang. Damien, Erin, and Shaunee were literally not in the story at all. I believe they were mentioned once or twice, and described as weeping over Zoey’s vacant body. After all that Zoey has done for them, wouldn’t you think they’d at least try to help her? A little, even? Aphrodite and Stevie-Rae were two of the main characters in Burned. I’ve always been a fan of Aphrodite, because she is real. She says it like it is and doesn’t care what people think of her. Her language is pretty awful, though. Swear words left and right.
The Stevie-Rae/Rephaim thing was the most interesting part of the book, for me. I really like where this is going. Rephaim is the most favored son of Kalona, and is a Raven Mocker. He has the body of a giant, human sized raven, with legs, arms, and eyes of a human. He is the offspring of Kalona’s vicious rape on the Cherokee women. Even though he was created of Darkness, he has formed an unexpected alliance with Stevie-Rae. They imprinted accidentally after Stevie-Rae saves him after the attack on the House of Night in the fifth book, and for that, he’s saved her numerous times. What I like that is that she didn’t fall head over heels in love with a Raven Mocker, but their strange relationship has developed over three books to a point where they rely on each other, and even like each other a little bit. Stevie-Rae is struggling to keep him a secret while trying to figure out her feelings for him.
Honestly, this book is a prime example of why you can’t have too many story lines going on at once. Some things felt unresolved and unclear. Some examples of multiple story lines include Zoey being trapped in the other world, Stark trying to find a way to save her, Stevie-Rae trying to keep the Raven Mocker secret, Stevie-Rae trying to deal with the rogue red fledgings, Heath being dead, Kalona/Neferet trying to take over the world, and the vampire high council. It was too much, and certain parts just didn’t click. The Stevie-Rae/Rephaim story line was my absolute favorite, but I felt like they could use their own book.
Overall, the book was okay. I liked the theme of the book, because I’m a fan of the House of Night series. If you can push through the poor dialogue and cheesy lines, it’s an important part of the House of Night series, and it’s not really something you can skip. I was a little disappointed because of how much I was looking forward to it, but overall, it wasn’t bad.
The House of Night series follows a group of friends who meet at the House of Night after becoming fledglings. In the series, young teens are “marked” and enter the pre-vampire stage where their bodies change into full vampire. They move to the House of Night where they learn Vampire ways and customs, and how to live among humans. The series follows Zoey Redbird, who progresses faster than others to becoming a vampire and has an affinity for water, air, fire, earth and spirit, and her friends Stevie-Rae, Damien, Jack, Shaunee and Erin. In previous books, the friends have worked together to overcome normal teen problems, but the books get progressive darker when an immortal, named Kalona, is awakened from his earth-grave and tries to take over the world.
In the previous book, Zoey witnessed Kalona kill her human love, Heath, and as a result her soul is shattered and she exists in a world in between life and death.
I’ve been a big fan of the series, despite negative reviews that the books are written poorly and the language is very child-like. This hasn’t bothered me until this book. I’ve always been able to enjoy the story line enough that the other flaws haven’t bothered me, and while I liked this book, there were certain elements that made it difficult to read.
The writing style is something that stuck out this time that bothered me. There was WAY too much dialogue, and the conversations were extremely cheesy and childish. While reading the dialogue, I’m left thinking “who even talks like this?” Stevie-Rae, who customarily has a southern accent and comes up with interesting phrases, even confused me. I felt that it was way overdone. And Kramisha has always been a character that really bothers me. Really…speak English. I had a difficult time reading her because the "ebonics" was taken to an extreme level.
That being said about Kramisha, most of the characters didn’t bother me, but I did miss the regular gang. Damien, Erin, and Shaunee were literally not in the story at all. I believe they were mentioned once or twice, and described as weeping over Zoey’s vacant body. After all that Zoey has done for them, wouldn’t you think they’d at least try to help her? A little, even? Aphrodite and Stevie-Rae were two of the main characters in Burned. I’ve always been a fan of Aphrodite, because she is real. She says it like it is and doesn’t care what people think of her. Her language is pretty awful, though. Swear words left and right.
The Stevie-Rae/Rephaim thing was the most interesting part of the book, for me. I really like where this is going. Rephaim is the most favored son of Kalona, and is a Raven Mocker. He has the body of a giant, human sized raven, with legs, arms, and eyes of a human. He is the offspring of Kalona’s vicious rape on the Cherokee women. Even though he was created of Darkness, he has formed an unexpected alliance with Stevie-Rae. They imprinted accidentally after Stevie-Rae saves him after the attack on the House of Night in the fifth book, and for that, he’s saved her numerous times. What I like that is that she didn’t fall head over heels in love with a Raven Mocker, but their strange relationship has developed over three books to a point where they rely on each other, and even like each other a little bit. Stevie-Rae is struggling to keep him a secret while trying to figure out her feelings for him.
Honestly, this book is a prime example of why you can’t have too many story lines going on at once. Some things felt unresolved and unclear. Some examples of multiple story lines include Zoey being trapped in the other world, Stark trying to find a way to save her, Stevie-Rae trying to keep the Raven Mocker secret, Stevie-Rae trying to deal with the rogue red fledgings, Heath being dead, Kalona/Neferet trying to take over the world, and the vampire high council. It was too much, and certain parts just didn’t click. The Stevie-Rae/Rephaim story line was my absolute favorite, but I felt like they could use their own book.
Overall, the book was okay. I liked the theme of the book, because I’m a fan of the House of Night series. If you can push through the poor dialogue and cheesy lines, it’s an important part of the House of Night series, and it’s not really something you can skip. I was a little disappointed because of how much I was looking forward to it, but overall, it wasn’t bad.
Radiant Shadows in the fourth installment in Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series, and follows another off-shoot of the Ash/Keenan/Seth arc. In this story, we see more of Devlin, who is featured in Fragile Eternity as Sorcha's Bloody Hands (aka Assassin) and Ani, who is the Dark Court hound halfling.
Devlin is the first male faerie, made of Sorcha and Bananach. Sorcha is the embodiment of Reason and Logic and Queen of the High Court, and Bananach is the embodiment of War and Discord and a member of the Dark Court. They are meant to balance each other. But when Sorcha re-created Seth into a fae using her own essence, the balance was thrown off because she then carried some human emotion. Sorcha has been mourning Seth's presence in the mortal world, and therefore she is no longer the exact opposite of Bananach.
Ani has a secret. While her court has a reputation of "feeding" off of human emotions, Ani can also feed off of faerie emotions. She's also losing her mortality by the day, and is becoming more and more fae. On top of that, she is "skin starved", meaning she needs touch to nourish her, as well. This seems to be a Hound trait, but being a halfling, she really shouldn't be able to do any of this. Her and Irial have been doing tests on her blood to see what it is that makes her so different, and so important to Bananach.
Devlin's prior secrets are coming back to get him. He was ordered years ago to kill the pup Ani, who has been under the prior Dark King's protection, but chose not to. When Ani is confronted by Bananach and ordered to kill Niall and Seth, her and Devlin start a journey across country to try to outrun Bananach's chase. But plans change when they find out that Faerie is falling apart while Sorcha chooses to remain in a dream until Seth returns.
Devlin and Ani realize that something must be done to regain the balance between the High Court and the Dark Court.
I am a big fan of Mellisa Marr, but when I heard this book would be another "side installment" of the series, I wasn't too excited. Ink Exchange just wasn't that good for me, and I never really got into the whole Dark Court thing.
This book totally changed my opinions on the series. I. Loved. This. Book. It had everything a great book should have; it was exciting, it had moments of romance and moments of suspense, and the main characters were fun to read. Everyone can fall in love with Devlin, because he's been sheltered in Faerie for so long, and he's finally realizing that he wants to choose his own path. Ani is witty and dangerous and strong.
Fragile Eternity focused a lot of Sorcha and the High Court, and I probably like that arc MORE than I do the Summer Court/Winter Court arc that is supposed to be Wicked Lovely, Fragile Eternity, and the soon-to-be-released fifth book. I like reading about the High Court, and now the Dark Court, too. (I think it was the whole Niall/Irial/Leslie thing in Ink Exchange that really turned me off from it.)
I'm really hoping the series is continued past a fifth book. Every installment, there are new developments and new characters involved. With the way Radiant Shadows ended, I don't see how the entire series can be wrapped up in just one more book.
I highly recommend this young-adult series. Just make sure you read the entire series! Yes, even Ink Exchange. :)
***spoiler alert: the final book in the Everworld series***
While Book 11 really held the final battle between Senna/Sennites and April, Jalil, Christopher, and David, this book is the wrap up; the conclusion.
At the end of the battle in Book 11, Senna is deemed no longer a threat. The gateway is closed. But now what? With the gateway closed, will April and her friends ever get back to the real world? Do they even want to anymore?
They are fading away. Jalil, David, and Christopher are fading in the real world. They've made their choice; they belong in Everworld. Jalil simply put it, "how can we live in the real world after experiencing Everworld?"
In this book, after leaving Ireland completely defeated, Etain along with April and her friends realize they need to free Baldur and Thor from Hel's domain if they're ever going to beat the Sennites and Ka Anor. They venture to Dwarven lands, where Etain offers her hand in marriage (breaking Christopher's heart) to the Dwarven king in order for help building a tunnel into Hel's kingdom. With the help of the Dwarfs and Merlin, they reach Hell and rescue the imprisoned Gods. For the first time, they are in charge and the Gods aren't fighting over who gets to kill them.
Ka Anor is still a big problem, as are Senna's minions. The only slightly disappointing thing about the end of the series is the lack of closure. It ends with the Gods realizing they have to unite to save Everworld. It sparks hope, but not victory. It leaves the end open for each individual reader. But in a way, I like that. You see how the main characters have grown since the first book, and how they've all found their place.
Everworld ends with hope. While there are open ends (didn't they mention a scroll that wrote the framework of Everworld? What happened with that? With the goddess Brigid?), individual readers can decide if April, Jalil, Christopher, and David disappearing forever from the real world good or bad, and if they'll take part in changing Everworld and putting the Gods back in charge.
All in all, I rated the Everworld series rather high, and that's mainly because of the emotional attachment I had with them from my early teen years. However, I can see why they get rather low ratings on Goodreads. They are not brilliant stories; far from it actually. But you have to realize they are written for 8th - 10th grade. So they were easy reads, but really enjoyable once you get into them.
Everworld is a story about fantasy; a story about adventure and finding out who you are. It's a story about Gods and Goddesses and mythological folklore, who can't possibly exist, but do. Welcome to Everworld.
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