Book Reviews

A Lady’s Submission (The Warriors of Ar’mora Book 1) by Frank Carlyle

 in Adult / Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Fiction / Older Readers by

Book CoverSummary

“Last of a clan that once ruled over a vast trade network and determined the fate of empires, Mahlon Arn, has the task of reclaiming a place once lost and now hidden within the jungled corridors of a tributary river that feeds into the mighty Amazon River. It’s a past that almost no one remembers except for the few who dare to return and once more reclaim all that once was and begin to build what is to become.

Journey deep into the jungle and follow the story of a warrior who reclaims a kingdom, only to ache for the completion of a prophecy spoken over him by a dying father. A prophecy that comes in the form of a red haired fantasy lady, who is born up the river by chance and circumstance or perhaps by Divine will, and that must be claimed and utterly brought into submission by the man, who has been tasked to not only reclaim a past but to build a future based on righteousness.

A Lady’s Submission is the beginning of a five book journey into the exotic realms of a place that has never been spoken of and is now just beginning to be realized through the lives of the five remaining blood heirs of the House of Arn, of the kindred of people known to the ancient world as the Ar’morians. This is a tale of overcoming faith and erotic conquest. A reality of an ancient place comes alive in this tale of Christian Erotic Themed Fantasy Fiction.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I was lucky enough to have Mr. Carlyle contact me over this book and ask me to read it and I’m so glad that he did because I really did enjoy this book. I will start off by saying that this is adult literature, as it is erotic themed. And while I don’t usually read blatant erotic literature (while Nalini Singh’s books (as well as others) do count but it’s much more than that), this one definitely needs to be reviewed.

First off, it’s written by a guy. I mean how rare is that?! All the erotic literature that I know is written by women, usually older women as the younger ones don’t want to write it, and so this book automatically caught my interest when I received the email as I was intrigued as to what a male author would be able to do with such a feminine topic. I have to say, I was definitely impressed. Instead of a lot of it being from the females perspective, it was mostly from the main male protagonist of the story which was quite interesting. I thought that reading about sexy thoughts from a guy would be strange, but it didn’t change how I read the story at all. It was just as enjoyable and an interesting touch. I wouldn’t have known that it was written by a guy at all and the different perspective was awesome. So kudos to Mr. Carlyle.

Next, this book falls into a new-ish category (one I’m not terribly familiar with) called Christian Erotic Themed Fantasy Fiction. Now, this is kind of interesting. It’s erotic literature with a christian twist which is different. This means that in the story the main female protagonist spent time praying to God and there were references to Jesus. Now I don’t have an opinion for or against something like this, but I know that some people may view strongly against this, due to the fact that sex and the bible don’t necessarily go hand in hand perfectly. No I’m not trying to start a war here, so please don’t bite my head off. I’m merely stating that when the bible and sex get mixed together, sometimes things can get messy which I respect and understand, but I don’t feel, that in this book, such a problem came up, so if that is a worry for a reader, I don’t believe that they need to feel that way. The writing was respectful and the incorporation of the religion and belief was interesting and added to the story in a very unique way. I was confused when God and Jesus references appeared, but once I realized the genre, then I understood instantly. So another bonus point for the author because he broke two barriers so far: being a male author and adding religious aspects.

Now, more about the story. It was a very decent story. It fit perfectly into the traditional erotic romance category. Think of a basic Harlequin novel, with the two aspects above mixed in, with a little historical kind of feel to it. For some reason, when reading it, I kept having this image of like Conan the Barbarian mixed with Game of Thrones going on. Maybe I’m just loosing my head but that’s what I was picturing the entire time.

The story was interesting and it was nice to see a real commitment between the male and the female. A lot of times the sex scenes which happen is more superfluous sex. I guess you could call it a hook-up a lot of the time and then the love develops through the novel. This one the love was there and it was an interesting story and development.

As a reader, I would have liked more of a story line, a little more something in the story, but that’s just a personal thing as I always like lots going on. But for erotic literature, this fit the bill perfectly in my opinion.

Overall, I thought it was fantastic and I would recommend it. It was only about 135 pages or so and I was able to read it in just over an hour or so (I read fast so maybe more like 2-3 for some readers) so it wasn’t a difficult read. I would say to check it out if you have some spare time and are looking for something. It is unique in my opinion and is different from other erotic literature stories, but not so different that it’s bad. A job well done in my opinion.

Happy Reading!

Debt Inheritance (Indebted #1) by Pepper Winters

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by

Indebted #1, Debt Inheritance Book Cover

Summary

“”I own you. I have the piece of paper to prove it. It’s undeniable and unbreakable. You belong to me until you’ve paid off your debts.”

Nila Weaver’s family is indebted. Being the first born daughter, her life is forfeit to the first born son of the Hawks to pay for sins of ancestors past. The dark ages might have come and gone, but debts never leave. She has no choice in the matter.

She is no longer free.

Jethro Hawk receives Nila as an inheritance present on his twenty-ninth birthday. Her life is his until she’s paid off a debt that’s centuries old. He can do what he likes with her–nothing is out of bounds–she has to obey.

There are no rules. Only payments.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This review is going to be extremely blunt and to the point and unlike any other ‘gentle’ review I’ve done before.

So that is my disclaimer.

I absolutely hated this book so much. The only reason that I actually finished reading it was because I was curious to see if it may get better due to the fact that so many people gave it a positive reviews and seemed to love it. This book falls into the dark romance genre, sub-genre is dark erotica and it completely fits into that genre, no questions asked. This book was pretty damn dark and that was one reason I hated it so much. I’ve read dark books before, more apocalyptic books, but this was dark sexually.

Technically the author is known as a BDSM writer (apparently according to research on her) and she has made the NY Times best seller list and a lot of people love her but this writing was just beyond messed up. No, there wasn’t any rape, per se, but there was a lot of coercion and sexual threats. The main characters were Nila and Jethro and I despised them both.

Jethro was cold and he was supposed to be hated, as that was his part, but he was beyond horrible. He was controlling all around, kind of like Mr. Grey from 50 Shades, although instead of readers having to infer that he was insane, it was blatantly obvious that Jethro was beyond screwed up in the head and I would define him as a psychopath. By the BDSM terms, based on the reviews I’ve read, he was considered to be a Dominant, but he was not even close to that. Jethro was a killer and more than a lot deranged in the head and I wanted to just run away from the book. But having a good and hated main character is great, so it was talent to make him hated so much, but my serious problem rested in Nila.

Nila was essentially Anastasia Steele, from 50 Shades, on steroids and a hell of a lot dumber. She knew, the moment that she met Jethro, that he was dangerous and didn’t have an option to say no to getting a drink with him, but everything after that went downhill. All of her ‘creep’ warning bells were going off and she was smart in the beginning, choosing to leave him (not a spoiler because it doesn’t affect the story), but then…THEN she decided to go back and met up with him to get revenge on a guy she didn’t even know. A little back story, she was texting a guy who had been a wrong number a long time back, and he pissed her off, a guy she didn’t even know, so she wanted ‘revenge’ or some rubbish like that.

As the story progressed, she pushed Jethro’s buttons soooooooo much. I mean, pardon my french, but she was a dumb bitch, big time. Sure, there are times you fight when you are technically being taken hostage, or kidnapped, but there are times you don’t push it. If you think your captor is going to snap and potentially kill you, you do NOT push the buttons of someone who would snap your neck in a second. Like no!

The story continued and eventually Nila was degraded to no more than a slave, due to a debt which had happened with the family hundreds of years back.

I kept thinking that maybe Nila had Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological phenomenon where you have empathy, sympathy, or feelings towards your captor,  or something, but she knew what was happening was wrong, but would continue to push Jethro. AND THEN! IT GETS BETTER! She’s technically a captive and wants to have sex with Jethro. She doesn’t care that he is cruel. She’s just a lustful young woman who has ABSOLUTELY NO SELF-PRESERVATION SKILLS!

This absolutely infuriated me. I wanted to reach into the story and beat the hell out of her and tell her to wake up and stop being so god-damned stupid.

As you can gather, I absolutely hated this story. And I would NOT recommend it at all. It gives an extremely twisted view of sex as well as BDSM since apparently this has those qualities in the writing. I didn’t see it though – all I saw was some serious messed up stuff.

Yes, it was free on iBooks so that’s the only reason I downloaded, and I am so glad it was free because I’d be annoyed if I purchased it.

Best part(?!) is it is a series and there are 6 books in this series. Will I read them? Absolutely not. I don’t want to know where this story goes now and I can make my own ending.

So please, avoid this romance book at all costs unless you’re into dark erotic romance.

Happy reading!

Raining Embers (Order and Chaos Book 1) by Jessica Dall

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Fiction / Fun / Hot Off The Press / Interesting / Young Adult by

Raining Embers (Order and Chaos Book 1) by Jessica Dall Cover Summary

“Palmer Tash always follows the path of least resistance. He has an unusual disability involving his hearing. But in theocratic Latysia, being different isn’t a good thing, so he conceals his problem.

Brier Chastain’s malady is even more debilitating, and she often must take to her bed for long periods. Her days are spent in meaningless pursuits as she awaits an arranged marriage.

When Palmer and Brier are kidnapped on the same night, they meet and discover that their so-called disabilities are actually budding powers. They are the incarnations of Order and Chaos. With their country on the brink of war, the two must step into their predestined roles and learn to take control of their own destinies.”

–From Jessica Dall’s Website

Review

So Jessica Dall contacted me asking me to read her book for her and get a review done as her book is brand-spanking-new and I’m really glad that she did. It was a fantastic book and I am curious as to how the other books in the Order and Chaos series are going to be now. I will start off by saying that it is an e-book which can be purchased from here for $2.99 and was quite worth it in my opinion.

So the story followed two teens and how their abilities were essentially that of order and chaos. My one confusion was ages as I kept viewing the two protagonists more as like 15 year old kids but then they would mention that they were closer to 19 or 20 years old and I kept getting so confused at moments, but that was probably more of a personal thing. I always felt, during the story, that how they reacted to certain situations, was that more of a younger child than of an adult, but that’s not a complaint. More of just a personal feeling while reading.

There was nice character development as well. You got quite attached to the two protagonists, Brier and Palmer and it was nice to see how they developed as characters as well as they developed with each other. This book definitely did have a romance aspect to it, though it was definitely not the main theme. It was just a nice way to make the story interesting and engaging and adding a new dynamic to the story.

My only one complaint about the book was the aspect of Palmer’s hearing. It was stated that he had a hearing issue, only being able to hear one thing at a time if he concentrated on it, but as the story continued to progress, I got the feeling that that issue went away, and I think that was due to the expanding of his abilities which was kind of interesting, but that was my only one complaint/confusion. Where the hearing issue went and why it was significant in the first place. But, once again, that is more of a me complaint as I’m sometimes extremely picky with stories.

The ending of the book was quite good as well. It was fast paced although a lot was crammed into the last 100 pages. It was about 200 pages of set up and then the last 100 pages was a lot of stuff happening in a very short period of time. Now this is a writing style, and a lot of YA books do it, and it’s extremely common, so I’m once again not saying it is bad, but I’ve always been into books where the action scenes are a little more dragged out, or the build up to the action scene doesn’t take place in only about a chapter or so. Although I do know a lot of people who like the fast build ups because instant-gratification is a thing now a days. The quick ending was nice though because you did have quite a few questions towards the end and you got a lot of them answered really fast which is always nice because you can breathe and go ‘Ohhhhhh! I get it now!”.

I also really do love the cover. The mixture of the light blue/teal with the yellow and fire design is a really nice combination, it really caught my attention. It was the first thing that I noticed before I started to read the book and I love that quality about it.

It wasn’t a difficult read at all, only about 280 pages or so and didn’t take me that long to read. Only reason it took me a ‘while’ was because I was busy and had to keep stopping but I was easily able to get through the last 100 page or so in an hour or two, so it wasn’t difficult. It was typical YA writing so it fits perfectly into the genre.

Overall I really did enjoy the book. It was unique, giving Order and Chaos bodies and abilities and making them become part of the world. I’m certainly intrigued as to how this series is going to be taken and would definitely be interested in reading the follow up book(s).

Check out this book and let me know what you think of it as well.

Happy reading!

 

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Young Adult by

The Winner's Curse book cover

Summary

“They were never meant to be together. As a general’s daughter, seventeen-year-old Kestrel enjoys an extravagant and privileged life. Arin has nothing but the clothes on his back. Then Kestrel makes an impulsive decision that binds Arin to her. Though they try to fight it, they can’t help but fall in love. In order to be together, they must betray their people . . . but to be loyal to their country, they must betray each other.

Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of rebellion, duels, ballroom dances, wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.”

Review

So I’ll be blunt and to the point with this review. In all honestly I really didn’t like this book, and didn’t finish it. I got to page 230 or so out of 330+ because I decided to give it a nice go. I didn’t want to give up as sometimes they get better half way through but this book honestly didn’t in my opinion at all.

My main problem was I didn’t connect with the characters. That is a big thing for me in the story. I don’t need to relate to them but I need to connect to them. I want to be able to read the story and be able to get inside the head of the characters and feel like I am a part of the story and am able to be into the story. With this one, I honestly didn’t feel like I was able to. I never really got into the book because I just wasn’t interested in it.

The story idea was interesting, a master in love with a slave, although the slave wasn’t a slave as we know it. While they were owned, they weren’t treated as badly as slaves from real life, as long as they did what they were supposed to do and did it well. I was intrigued by the idea but honestly, once I started reading it, I really didn’t like it. It was just weird to read.

Finally, I realized that there was weird character development. It kept progressing and then just falling flat on it’s face. Maybe, since there are other books in the series, the series gets better, but I wasn’t willing to wait because if the book doesn’t catch me half way through for a single book, or after the first book in a series, I don’t have any motivation to carry on. I do hate not finishing books, but I don’t have time to waste on books that I don’t enjoy unfortunately, but I did give it a valiant try.

This book does have decent reviews though, a lot of readers giving it a 4+/5 stars so maybe it is their kind of book but it personally wasn’t mine.

Anyone agree or not agree? I’d love to hear opinions.

Otherwise, happy reading.

Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles) by Kresley Cole

 in Adult / Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Creative / Fantasy / Older Readers / Otherworldly / Young Adult by

“Watch your six, Reaper, I’m on the hunt.”
A rasping chuckle. -Your Death awaits.-

-Page 368

Poison Princess cover Summary

“22 Arcana cards. 22 Chosen Teens. Let the cards fall where they may.

Sixteen-year-old Evie Greene’s horrific hallucinations predicted the apocalypse, and the end of the world brought her all sorts of new powers. With the earth scorched and few survivors, Evie teams up with handsome and dangerous Jack Deveaux in a race to find answers. They discover that that an ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of teens have been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side… “

-From Kresley Cole’s website.

Review

Okay, this is just going to be an absolutely love fest. Because this book was absolutely fantastic! It was nothing like any of the other YA books I have read and it was just so well written. I will start off by saying that this is definitely an older YA book because of certain themes as well as some of the violent content. There are no curse words, and the few curse words that are used, Cole cleverly changes up so that she switches letters around to make the word something different. If you know the word then you’ll know what it should be, but if you don’t, it will just look like some made up curse word, which is extremely clever.

The violence in the book is a little graphic at times. Especially when it jumps to the present day. How the story is set up is that the main character, Evangeline, is telling the story to someone who welcomes her into the home and by the end of the story, the past has been told and her arriving in the home is the present and that is where the book ends to set up for the next book in the series. Parts of the themes in the book, especially the guy who she is telling the story to in the present, is extremely creepy and pulled on some nasty themes. There are a lot of implications of rape, though nothing happens. A younger reader wouldn’t completely get that but as an older reader, you know exactly what is being implied. Then the guy who she is telling the story to, think of like one of the creepier episodes of Criminal Minds (I hope most people know this show) and think of how twisted they get with dungeons and torture. That is kind what the guy is like, so it gets a little brutal.

Now the rest of the story is just lots of apocalypse stuff. Something happens, called The Flash, and everything goes to shit, essentially. You’re never clear exactly what The Flash was, but you’re told it was a solar flare, though it’s never clear exactly what caused it, and leaves questions to be answered later on in the series. Out in the world, there are some horrible people, and some nasty themes brought up again. Mentions of cannibalism as well as the enslavement of women too. It seems like during The Flash, when most people were killed, a lot of them were women, so women were scarce, so they were wanted by slavers and stuff. Younger readers would just think that women were special though older readers would know exactly what was going on.

The two main characters, Evangeline and Jackson, are traveling together and it follows them from when they met before The Flash to surviving together after it. There is some great character development between the two of them and a lot of advances as well as steps back too, though I did sometimes want to smack Jackson so damn hard. There was definitely some sexual undertones going on, sometimes a little more prevalent, so you can definitely say that there is a romance theme to the book, but it is by no means a major theme in the book at all.

I also really like the fact that this is called The Arcana Chronicles. I have never once read a book about the Arcana cards. I have once seen an anime about the Arcana cards, Arcana Famiglia and it was really good, but besides that I have not seen anything about these cards and this was totally awesome!

Overall this was a fantastic book and I definitely do recommend it. I can’t read the second and third book for a little bit as I have to wait for my next school break, so I’ll have to wait for the new year, and until then it’s going to kill me, this wait.

But until then, definitely check this series out and enjoy it!

Happy Reading!