Jessica
Writing was kind of all over the place – I'm not sure if it was a reflection of Bailey's personality and erratic thought processes, but it was fairly difficult to follow.
That being said, the plot was delicious and I'd like some more.
It's almost eerie how good at communication the MCs are; that doesn't happen in either real or fictional life. Nice little mystery woven in though the answer was pretty obvious. Nice segue for the next hero. A N I CE story.
I liked Luna. She's a saint with ninja skills (though I wish she'd take less shit from the people she loves). And I love Rip. He's an angry bear 80% of the time but it mostly comes from relationship (not necessarily sexual...) frustration. And I love them together. But the writing style here was just too long for me. I adore how Zapata dishes out the heroines' thoughts in Kulti, Wait For It, and Under Locke. She laid it down and explained everything logically. But here...I don't know if it's a reflection of what Zapata was going for in Luna, but the redundancies in Luna's mind could've been achieved in a different way. The story took twice as long as it needed to. I love me a slow burn. There's nothing better than getting riled up at 3 AM and screaming at the hero to “HURRY UP AND MAKE A MOVE ON HER WE CAN ALL SEE YOU DON'T EVEN PRETEND JUST SNATCH HER HAND AND LAY A SMOOCH ON HER.” But the burn I felt here was more about “JHo I know you can read through this faster.” I loved the plot but it could've been thicker and juicier had the writing been condensed.
Imagine you're chilling in a lawn chair in the shade with the sun gleaming down, no bugs to snack on you, and a nice breeze coming in. Then imagine that nice breeze occasionally causing the potted plant next to you, with all its big, strong, green leaves, to smack you upside the head. That's kind of how the first 70% of the book felt. It was great and action-packed. Things are definitely never boring around Alice. But everywhere I turned, she kept getting severely injured. For Satan's sake, when a bomb that took out a few buildings, Sean heard it and immediately guessed that she was at the center of the danger and destruction. I understood why she kept getting hurt but come on. My girl is kickass. Why is she dying in almost every chapter? (Though the last few scenes were a sort of badass relief, but we'll get to that later...)
Another sticking point with me was the honest to god love pentagram that Alice was the center of. I get it. Alice is powerful, cool under pressure, and easy on the eyes. But come on. Did there have to be four lusty suitors after her? Though I'm glad all but one of those interests were finalized and shut down, at least from Alice's end.
Speaking of ends, I promised I'd get to gushing about the finale. I've gotta say; this story's ending was a lot more conclusive and satisfying than the last one. It was a resounding goodbye, between Lake and Alice and between the readers and the book. I didn't get that same impression from the first book. And those last few magic-wielding scenes. Be still my heart. Love me a powerful queen who can whip your peen off with green fire getting herself some personal justice. Here's to hoping for more good endings.
Lots of topsy-turvy turns with this little gem. An extremely distrustful, powerful, kickass lady mage is always a good time, when done right. And this was definitely done right.
In 3 words: absolutely loved it.
Ivy is delightful; Harper did a wonderful making her likable despite laziness and slovenliness being generally condemned by society. She's astute, I love the way she thinks, and I love the way she kicks butt and gets the job done.
The mystery had plenty of twists and turns to keep me occupied, Rafe is nothing to sneeze at, and Brutus is a grumpy gem. Will definitely pick up the second book!
I can only think of one word which aptly describes this book and my reaction to this book: wow.
The beginning was slow but necessary to really ram home how bland, controlled, sterile, and routine Emi's life was before all the magical powers started flying around everywhere. Once I reached a certain point, I kept reading and reading until I'd, surprisingly, finished it.
Highly recommend. Look forward to the next book.
If you're for guys who parade women they don't care to remember the names of in front of the girl they're madly in lust with, then go ahead I suppose. I'm all for sexual tension but it was getting a bit ridiculous right from the beginning. Every time he talks to Bailey, he can't stop thinking about her assets. She apparently says his name on a “sexy” sigh/pant/moan or what have you in the most mundane conversations. And despite Gage's conquests disrespecting Bailey after what seems to be every morning, Bailey's got just as big of a hankering for him. Needless to say, Lettie was my favorite character in the 10 or so pages I could endure.
I'll keep this short. I just want to list all the good points this book demonstrated throughout its course:
- Likable heroine — she had her flaws and moments of idiocy, but they were mostly all logical, given her situation and limited experience, and they were eclipsed by her continuous shows of acuity.
- Good chemistry — the sexual tension might kill me and that's ok.
- Plot twists galore — maybe it's just been a while since I've read a spy-ish book, but I couldn't see many of these lil' surprises until they slapped me in the face. Then they slapped me again for good measure.
- Humorous — the homage to 99 cents romance novels will forever warm my cockles and hurt my nonexistent abs from indulging in their sheer hilarity.
- More “real” (as real as a spy-ish novel can get) — the attention to the more graphic areas of the book grabbed my attention and kept me from coasting through
4.5 brilliant stars
This book was certainly not what I thought it would be: a typical love story between a nerdy quiet girl and an angsty playboy content with sex 24/7 who doesn't handle responsibility well.
First, I would like to thank Emma Chase very much for not filling the book with typical seductresses all vying for Henry's attention. Certainly, there were a couple with their constant overt propositions. But Chase ensures that, according to Henry's character in the beginning, he is interested for but a split second until he lays eyes on Sarah. Sure, it sounds cliche, but Chase does it right, somehow managing to find the silver lining between overdone cliche and disheartening disgust at Henry's debauchery and “cheating” on the main female lead.
Next, I start my rave on the character development. It was...just amazing. How, Emma Chase, how did you pull it off? It was to be expected that Henry would have a change of heart and demeanor once he fell in love with Sarah. But. This is just. This is a piece of art. An act of mastery. I don't want to reveal too much or else I'll have to slap a spoiler alert on this, but suffice it to say, Henry's redefinition of duty, honor, and love, as foretold in the summary, are put into action in ways that anyone could hardly predict. Sarah's character development wasn't anything to scoff at, either. Henry obviously changes her for the better, letting a bit of his wild side rub off on her so that she comes out of her shell a tad. However, the real surprise was that there was more to her than a stereotypical quiet librarian content with her little bubble of a world. I'll stop here so that I don't give too much away. But to all the potential readers of this book, do not for a second write off Sarah. There is more to her history than simplicity and comfort.
Going by my rating, I absolutely adored this book. That said, I still had a few problems with some of the things that happened. For example, the beginning filled me with so much suspense and tension that I was about to keel over from anxiety, waiting for the main characters to finally meet! And then, I don't know, maybe I was just a little bit pissed at the situation in general. Of course, that said situation couldn't have been helped and only added something specific [good or bad, I'm not telling, since I don't want any cries of “Spoiler!” directed towards me] to that ending. However, all in all, I stand by my rating that this book was fantastic; I wish I could go back in time and reread it all over again. Yes, including that infuriating beginning. Yes, through all the heartbreak and drama [though, really, that's the real reason we're all reading this right?]. A thousand times yes.
Can't believe how fast this book went by. It was a real page-turner and I need moreeeeee.
To whom this may concern,
Of COURSE the book was good. The bickering between Knox and Harper...I gobbled it all up. NO, it's not possible for me to be professional and give a formal review; I'm fangirling too much to remain calm and collected. Something new readers should note is that the relationship between Knox and Harper in this book is gushier than the first book...WHICH I ABSOLUTELY LOVED. And I sincerely hope (and demand) that whoever's reading this loves this as much as I do. Another notable wonderful thing about this book is that the ending foreshadows more conflict...WHICH MEANS MORE BOOKS. :D So READ IT.