Lili V
Really enjoyed the world-building in this trilogy. It was the highlight of the whole thing because while I'm usually a character-driven reader, I enjoyed the familial and friend relationships in this series more than the romance. The chemistry was lacking quite a bit between the FMC and her love interests, and most of all, while I appreciated how mature and competent she was, the writing of her character wasn't very fleshed out. There were a lot of mentions about the AGE of these characters, and their psuedo-immortality, but the impact of that time and experience was lacking from their character-building. Basically, don't just tell me you're old, talk to me about how you've lived!
I'm rating this a 3.5 out of 5 stars because though I had issues with the dialogue and the explanation of the processes that Doc Hendley went through in order to establish Wine to Water as aid organization, it was a very moving and inspirational tale, and definitely the best memoir I've read so far. And considering I avoid memoirs and haven't read many at all, that's saying something.
Solid 4 stars.
Had a great time with this trilogy, pretty much devoured all 3 books back to back because I couldn't stop. Made for a lot of late nights.
This last installment is almost everything I enjoy about nuanced characters getting comfortable with their relationships. It led to really intimate, loving moments in the dark environment of killing to rule the world. The author did this very naturally and flawlessly. I will definitely be rereading this series in the future and that's saying a lot because I only reread my faves. This one ranks up there.
This was exactly what I wanted. And I appreciated the author's description that this is just for a jolly good time, no plot, all romance. Quick fae “you're mine, I'm yours, literally crazy about you” easy breezy read.
I really liked the back-and-forth between the two MCs because while the premise is just ridiculous, once their relationship develops, they test each other's insecurities and communication skills in a way that they can learn and do better in the future. Really love the true relationship development that proves to make them a stronger couple overall.
This book has bogus/fake ratings. Too many “5 stars” are from people who only have this book listed on their GR account.
This one was a lot darker than I expected but overall the execution and writing delivered it very well. The boys that are Seph's pairs are different from other boys RH books that I've read because they've still not completely revealed their characters to the reader, or Seph, and they aren't as strong of a support system when shit goes down. It's a new and weird dynamic for me because in a lot of the RH books out there, the boys usually provide a backbone of strength for the main character but in this case, you can clearly see that all five of them–including Seph–have been thrown into this arrangement without a complete willingness to be in it.
A lot of the background history of the Zevgheri and Klovoda is revealed to the reader as it's being revealed to Seph, another interesting dynamic because we are as much in the dark as she is; this, however, is more common in RH books.
I am going to continue this series for now because I did admire the writing as well as Seph's overall strength, especially as we get more of a picture of her early childhood. (Trigger warning: child molestation) She is a deeper character than we initially get the impression of in the beginning of the book, and the writing has a way of truly giving depth to her character.
Ari is a freak among the norms, and when she arrives in New 2, she slowly comes to find that she also might be a freak among supernatural freaks too. From foster home to foster home, Ari has been abused and ridiculed about her looks and not being able to fit in tends to weather a girl down. Stumbling upon the kids in the Garden District veers Ari's journey to find out about her biological father a bit off course. Uncovering the truth about New 2–the independent, yet partially revitalized New Orleans–and all its many facets comes as not too big of a surprise after hearing all sorts of preternatural rumors outside The Rim.
It's only when Ari really starts digging into the curse pass down the female line of her mother's biological family that things start to heat up real fast. There's vampires, witches and demigods aplenty but when there's a real goddess around–one that tends to caress the evil tactics of the gods–there just has to be a god-killer to, right?
It's no secret that Keaton has a gift when it comes to writing. If you've ever read her adult series, you'd be captured in the first chapter. The overtones of that amazingly and concisely descriptive writing definitely shines its light in Darkness Becomes Her. Keaton was not afraid to throw in a heroine with a touch of monster in her blood and an attitude–and “bad” mouth–to suit her. Ari, short for Aristanae, was dark-fully crafted. I was entranced when I was able to view through her eyes the world and misfortunes it has thrown at her. Developed background on her alone would have made for an captivating read. Her foster parents and all the kids and motley of powerful adults introduced were a breath of fresh air to read about; all individuals that contributed to the main plot skillfully. Most did lack some background knowledge that would have been helpful to personalize them and give their uniqueness some flare.
The plot was utterly bewitching, and while the pacing had me second-guessing the two battle scenes' timing because of its unpredictable staggering progression, the events that lead up to that cliffhanger ending just ensnare you enough to keep your heart pounding even after you've read the last word.
Grade: B+/A-
Quick steamy dystopian-setting insta-love story about humans and an alien race known as Metas.
Sure go ahead and kill the two characters that were the sweetest and honestly one of the only reasons I kept reading.
Enjoyed and binged the books available in this series (first 3) on audio in the last 3 days. The first was a good introduction to the series and set up the plot and time travel nicely. However, the writing was heavy-handed in reminding the reader that the FMC is a cop from the modern world (not to mention it honestly kind of stunk of white feminism for the first half of book 1) and repeatedly went over the dilemma of being stuck in a Victorian setting during every single lapse in the murder investigation - so much so that I would say that the plot of the first book's murder mystery was the least memorable.
I appreciated getting the FMC's modern-day detective perspective and had fun listening to the different characters work together; their personalities made them all the more enjoyable to get to know. The second and third books were much more intriguing and the murder mystery compelling. The series is a great way to get started with victorian mysteries and more popcorn-fun than complex.
With the escalation of missing-persons in Bedford, Maine, Zara White decides to take the duty of being the pixie queen of Astley's pixies seriously, especially since the world's about to end and all. She feels the weight of what it is going to take to fight all of Frank's pixies and find out what she has to do in order to keep the world intact. Help comes from her multitude of friends and family that she has accumulated since arriving in the tiny town of Bedford. In the middle of all the chaos, Zara soon comes to realize that the love she and Nick shared has been treading on a razor blade edge since she saved Nick in Valhalla. So many challenges face Zara as the pixie queen, as “the chosen one” in the mysterious prophecy, as Astley's partner. In the end she'll have to ask herself, “Is she willing to risk it all for the prosperous lives of the people and world she loves?”
As far as the romance that simultaneously lessens and grows in Endure, I'm super glad about the outcome. Nick is the same macho, bossy, brutish character he was in Entice and I wanted to slap him numerous times. And of course Astley's wonderfully sweet nature doesn't change and I wanted to kiss him numerous times. Pixie fate doesn't sound so bad, right? Back to Nick, though....There was one particular scene in Endure that some of the characters go back to Iceland–not going to say why–and Nick decides to tag along this time. There's a little respite from the chaos and Zara and him get to talk. Let's just say, if you were holding out for Team Nick to pull through, this scene will flush any chances of that happening down the drain. What's funny is that he thinks he hasn't done anything wrong by Zara till that point, and I'm like, “Seriously?”
Guess I should talk more about the gloom and doom climax since that's primarily what the book centers around. I don't think Ms. Jones could have down a better job at putting every piece of the puzzle in its place to cinch up the final book in the series. While I think she could have adjusted the execution of all the Norse mythology as things were heating up in the book more structurally, I liked how she re-introduced the important events that happened in previous books and made everything wrap up nicely. It was ironic how easily the whole pandemonium of the apocalypse was avoided but that didn't leave the book without its own fair share of battle scenes and war chaos. The challenges that Zara faces include standing up to multiple gods and goddesses, ruthless pixies, and acceptance that even when she thinks she's lost and there's no way they can win, it only takes the power of something she's had all along to stop the world from ending.
I sincerely loved and enjoyed reading the Need series. All the characters that I met throughout all the books develop into people with the strength to fight and endure till the very end. I would recommend the whole series to people not afraid of blue-tinted skin, razor-toothed mouths and shapeshifters who need an attitude check.
Grade: A-
What can I say that would capture the intricacies and complex characters of Blood Red Road? I can't. The characters are everything you want them to be, because you can see who they are from the very first instance you read about them through Saba's eyes. Her “hard-hearted” Angel of Death persona is who she really is, and you catch a glimpse that practically on every page. It's thrilling and frustrating to see that the decisions she makes only benefit her but that is all she cares about when it comes to saving her brother Lugh. She carries a weighted heart when it comes to all the challenges she has to face when dealing with the cruel and despicable in the King's land. Finding new friends in the most uncommon places only helps Saba realize that finding new is nowhere near a lost cause–not that she ever really thought it was in the first place. Her continuous spirit in trying to keep her friends out of trouble and having to let her little sister tag along is grueling for her, but nowhere near impossible. Trying to get through her thick head is sometimes, but even then she'll acquiesce to reason.
When I first started Blood Red Road, I did not think I would blast through it as fast as I did. It always pleases me so when I find something new in the YA genre that's never been done before. BRR has everything you want in a book: suspense, mystery, a splash of romance, and some after-the-apocalypse feel that I could never get enough of. It's amazing to see how Saba goes from living in such a desolate home, where it is only her family she contends with on a barren land. She is the pioneer in the book that we vicariously live through to experience the extremities she had no idea were going in the land of Hopetown.
As for the ever-changing array of characters, it's exciting to see the many people that what to fight with Saba against the King and his Tonton. The syntax and diction for Blood Red Road was unexpected at first–and throughout it did sometimes get on my nerve–but it was something I came to view as suitable in the end. It was only right to have this isolated girl tell her fundamental tale the only way and through the only language she knew how to write.
If ever there was a companion novel to BRR, I would pick it up in a “red hot” second. Everything was so fierce and empowering in this novel that I could not put it down for a second; sleep was not an option. I recommend to all that love an idolized heroine to come to the rescue of everyone she cares about, and lets nothing stop her.
Grade: A
Being adopted during infancy and growing up in a white-washed suburb, Ashline Wilde's Polynesian looks were something of a dark beam in a sea of white light. The only other person who could have understand equally what she was going through decided to up and leave the burbs for a world-view trip around the globe, leaving her little sister behind confused and alone. When Evelyn “Eve” Wilde makes her reappearance, she know nothing better than to terrorize her younger sibling when Ash refuses to do her bidding. After a horrible incident, Ash finds herself across the country in a prep school known as Blackwood Academy that she's beginning to view as the silver lining in a world of chaos, and as a new beginning. It wasn't long until Ash got some answers–and with them more questions–about her elder sister's extraordinary display of power back in Scarsdale, and the group of gods and goddesses that seem to know about their own powers than Ash knows about her own. If she even has any...
The first thing that I was pleasantly surprised to read when I started Wildefire was the brutal way that the author threw you into the story, no mercy, no sugarcoating. From the onset the reader is captivated by the roughness of the main character and introduced into the the confined space she views herself living in. This soon builds up into a well-crafted situation where reason soon flies out the window and total action takes over. This was one of those books where “actions speak louder than words.” And I absolutely love those. This doesn't mean that there was minimal dialogue or no explanations of thought processes, not at all. I just mean that the actions done by the primitive characters say more about them than any simple summary of their personality would.
Ashline was my ideal character and perspective I would have chosen to read the book through. She sees more about the people around her, perceives in a way that is easily relatable, and casts them in their own light of judgement. I believe this had to do more with the authors writing style than anything else. The only way I could explain it would be that once you start reading, you don't realize time going by or what page your on. It just keeps you entranced long enough for you to keep reading until you feel exhaustion creeping up on you. Something that really put me inside the book was the unique occurrences of the story being told in second-person. That was a little like the icing on the cake for me.
Another facet that I couldn't ignore was the smooth way Ash's life was built up in the course of time throughout the book. So many things changed, secrets unveiled, people in disguise uncovered. All of it was contributing to the whole of the book and creating a fantastic debut and installment of what I hope will be an everlasting series.
Grade: B+
Just absolutely amazing, a masterpiece of epic proportions. Definitely have to re-read it in the future because there's so much to learn and understand. New gods, old gods, but gods all the same. And then there's Shadow. Shadow...love. Yes, I'm in love with Shadow and I hated Laura. Glad she's dead. She didn't realize his full potential and neither did I till I got to know him better. But he's just so...polite and charming and he makes me want to introduce him to more naughty bits. Can't help it.
But seriously, this book just blew my mind. And I loved guessing some of the plot twists, they themselves were uninhibited and imaginative.
Just...absolutely amazing.
Takes way too long to get to the point that: sometimes it happens and you just have to deal with it.
Only a week after the exciting and hilarious happenings in First Grave on the Right, Jones throws Charley Davidson into another tantalizing case with an aspiring U.S Senate candidate, a dated missing-persons file, and each person who could have known what happened dropping dead like flies. Knowing that she has to find Reyes soon before he decides it's too dangerous to keep his corporeal body alive, Charley takes on both cases and does everything in her PI-and-Grim-Reaper-Power to solve both before it's too late to help either.
Famous for her one-liners, funny in an catch-you-off-guard kind of way, Second Grave on the Left left me laughing with a splash of tears that made the renown Charley Davidson more of an endearing and confident character all-around. More of an insight was shown of Charley's character, demonstrating how she's not really human just by her reactions whenever she's in danger or feels threatened. A calmness sort of takes over her that she subconsciously realizes has to do with the fact that, though she may currently be in a dangerous situation, the best thing to do is think analytically of what she should do to avoid the worst possible outcome–or her death, whichever.
The re-introduction to all of the old characters was something I enjoyed reading immensely. If there were ever a cast of characters I enjoyed reading more about, they're definitely the ones. Cookie was as auspicious and helpful as ever, Garret flirting and determined, Reyes the hottest of all man- and hell-kind, and as for Charley's family....I could never get enough of her Uncle Bob–Ubie to Charley–and her father made a rather significant appearance that, in the end, was quite tearful.
While the writing style was absolutely engaging and characters a thrill to read, the first look we have into the more sinister world that Reyes promised would soon come in the last book was a bit of an understatement but it was also the first development of Charley's true powers. Darynda Jones nailed it again with this audacious sequel that promises more development of the main character and more action in general. I am thoroughly ecstatic for the third book in the series to release and more PI-and-Grim-Reaper-Power.
Grade: B+/A-
Initially picked this book up back in college but wasn't able to finish it before it was due back at the library. I enjoyed what I read so I had to come back to it and I finally did. Great art style and nice ending.
Tempest has a lot on her plate with her seventeenth birthday coming up; it's not surprising that it comes as a shock to her when her mermaid tendencies come a couple weeks before they were expected to manifest. In fact, it comes as a terrifying revelation that they took up where they had left off six years earlier, where a sea witch was willing to drag Tempest to the sea floor for unknown reasons. For bad purposes are Tempest's guess.
When Kona/Kai is first introduced, it is doubtful you can resist his wash-board abs and mysteriously dark physique. While Tempest may have the perfect life–and no matter how hard she tries to hold on to it–Kai's addition makes for one rocking birthday that knocks Tempest back to the ocean in a confrontation with her dead-set decision she never thought she'd second guess.
Deebs mastered the waves that rolled and crashed in Tempest Rising. The main character, Tempest Maguire, was mindful of her past and she let it bleed into her perception of how she has viewed her mother for the past six years. Her resentment towards her is no secret, and she had long ago made her decision to be nothing like her mother. I believe that she had the right amount of blame for her mother and agreed with how she took it into consideration of all her mermaid-related choices. However, throughout the book, the reader gets a view of the variety of obstacles she endures in order to keep her secret hidden and her decision true. The book initially surpassed my expectations as I read the abrupt twists that were shocking and how fast Tempest was able to acclimate with it all. The plot was rough but original between the relationship of a mermaid and a selkie and their underwater world.
Honestly, I had low expectations when I saw in the synopsis that the author was going to attempt to create an underwater world and I wasn't wrong to have them. I do believe that it could have been perfected and the knowledge behind underwater living could have been made more realistic but to a degree it cushioned the writing style of not going too in-depth of the scenery background and more into the character background. For that I was grateful.
My favorite character, who I just must mention because he had a major impact on the book subtly, was Tempe's father. Talk about the most loving and supporting dad ever. He not only was going through the same emotions that Tempest expressed in terms of her missing mother but he was compassionately supportive when it came to be her time of decision-making.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the struggle and adaptive qualities that made Tempest Rising an addictive debut. You not only want to know more about Tempest's relationships but also about how other characters will fare out in the future.
Grade: B+
Right off, you're introduced to Tess and Abby; and their seemingly opposite worlds while still being sisters only in the technical sense. When Abby spots the most minimal response in Tess when she hears Eli's voice in the hospital, she resolves to use him in order to make her sister wake up so she can finally get out from her shadow. However, what Abby soon discovers is the shield she's used to protect herself–from being hurt, from the capability of letting herself want–disappears as she get to physically see that the girl Eli is admiring is not her perfect sister but the tiny, intense bundle that dragged from working in the gift shop because she believes he's the solution to waking her sister up, once and for all.
As with most of Elizabeth Scott's books–since they're so freaking tiny–I read half of the book–which was 114 pages this time–in one sitting. Why is so addictive, you ask? Well, I can't answer this for every book I've read by her, but I can for Between Here and Forever–which I now just realize is a worthy title for its contents. Anyway, to give some background as to Abby's current predicament: after Tess's car crashed into a tree, she fell into a coma. Abby is currently visiting her at the hospital every afternoon to do anything she can think of to try to wake her up. Her next door neighbor, who used to be Tess's best friend before she was disowned for getting pregnant, is now Abby's best friend. (Yes, Ferrisville–their hometown–is the smallest thing ever.) Claire also works at the hospital Tess is staying at. Later, when Eli does his rounds for delivering desired magazines to patients, his voice triggers an eye twitch from Tess; which, of course, Abby considers it to be a sign of her potential awareness.
Moving on, to let you see what I saw when reading Between Here and Forever, Scott really touches a lot of nerves with this not-even-260-page book. Abby acts as if nothing about her matters, at all...to anyone. All she believes people see is her sister, always her sister. To get out from beneath her shadow, Abby will go–and did go–to great lengths to awaken Tess. Overall, as a character, Abby is a “slow” developer in the deductive department. A lot of the “revelations” that she discovered in the end were quite obvious to me from the beginning just by the re-tellings of her memories of Tess. The fact was that Tess was afraid and Abby was afraid. In that, they were completely the same, and I didn't necessarily appreciate the lack of creativity there. These are the things that I disliked or was completely perplexed by: why did Abby want her sister to wake up if she felt so much resentment? What was with Eli's bizarre background? I understand that in order for him to have any relationship with Abby whatsoever he had to have some similarities to her but to combine racism and OCD? It seemed like Eli was artificially made for Abby, not a natural character at all. And if we're going the psychological route, I would have definitely deducted Tess to be bipolar according to Abby's memories of her many mood swings in and out of their house. In the end, I actually thought that was going to be part of the “secrets” she was hiding. (Plus it would have made a lot more sense in explaining off all the things she did regarding her ex-best friend Claire.)
As for what I did like about Between Here and Forever...Well, while I could have done without a lot of the confusion and muddled thought processes of Abby, Scott wrote a smoothly flowing narrative that made this book addictive and unputdownable. And even though it was hard for Abby to grasp the obvious she was such a strong character that I wanted her to have the “happily ever after” ending. I think what shocked me the most even though it shouldn't have is that Tess was in coma when all of the conflicts and revelations were happening. Frankly, this entire book was about her being in a coma and how it was affecting the people around her; and the fact that she's not awake to see all this happening made me want to laugh. Inappropriate but true. And, in all honesty, but I thought through the majority of this book that if Tess had never gone into a coma, none of this would have transpired. Which I also found hilarious for the wrong reasons. But at the same time, I also think that that in itself is what made Between Here and Forever so realistic. That the one little accident inspired such a chain of events as to avoid the same mistake from happening again. It had that whole “if you don't know your history, your doomed to repeat it” factor going on.
And two nuggets of random I thought I'd include:
–the last page of Chapter 31 was my favorite
–and, “Hate That I Love You” by Rihanna ft. Ne-yo should be listened to while reading BHaF
Grade: B-