Book Reviews

Archangel’s Enigma by Nalini Singh

 in Adult / Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers / Otherworldly by
Book cover Archangel's Enigma by Nalini Singh a forest scene slashed with eyes peering through

Archangel’s Enigma Nalini Singh

Summary

“Naasir is the most feral of the powerful group of vampires and angels known as the Seven, his loyalty pledged to the Archangel Raphael. When rumors surface of a plot to murder the former Archangel of Persia, now lost in the Sleep of the Ancients, Naasir is dispatched to find him. For only he possesses the tracking skills required – those more common to predatory animals than to man.

Enlisted to accompany Naasir, Andromeda, a young angelic scholar with dangerous secrets is fascinated by his nature – at once playful and brilliant, sensual and brutal. As they race to find the Sleeping archangel before it’s too late, Naasir will force her to question all she knows…and tempt her to walk into the magnificent, feral darkness of his world. But first they must survive an enemy vicious enough to shatter the greatest taboo of the angelic race and plunge the world into a screaming nightmare…

– From Amazon.com

Review

Oh.My.God!!!!! LIKE YOU DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND!!!!!!! This book arrived at my University at like 11 in the morning and I got all my homework done so that I could read this book and I read it in like literally 5 hours. All my friends are like ‘what? how?!’.

But like UGH! I have to wait about 2 years to get the next book and that is like so depressing! So much character love and I’m literally in love with Naasir because he’s so adorable! He’s like a damn cub and I just want to meet him and nuzzle him and just like…UGH!!!! My fangirling with this book, and the series, is strong.

So overall this story followed on from where the last one left off with Lijuan destroyed Manhattan and Lijuan was partially destroyed. So, essentially it followed that Lijuan was a complete bitch and then became more of a bitch and then this followed her wanting to prove herself to others and take over the world. Again.

But this time the main characters are Naasir and Andromeda (and I completely love that name by the way!) and how Naasir is looking for a mate but Andromeda has a vow of celibacy and so it follows the two of them on their journey to save an Ancient (if you read the books you’ll know what that is) from Lijuan. It had all the traditional story points which came up in the other books but there was also a twist with Illium which I can’t spill, but in the end I just sat there like “WHATTTTT?!” I’m dying and I cannot wait until the next book comes out.

I honestly cannot give high enough praises to this book. There was a lot less violence in this book, compared to the other ones where there was a lot of dead bodies. I mean there was violence and such, but it wasn’t as bad and graphic (not like the sex was graphic before-ish but the violence was more gruesome), and the sex didn’t come until towards the end of the book which was a change. It was similar to the last book in the series, Archangel’s Shadows, how there was not a lot of sex and that it was really quite tame. Teasing, yes, but explicit sex, not really, which was nice.

Overall my praise cannot be higher for this series. Yes, I am biased, but if you find the Facebook groups which are filled with follows of Ms. Singh and her books, you’ll find that I am not the only person who loves her books (granted they are all women). I give this book a million out of 5 stars! As I did with all the other books. Definitely check this book out and let me know what you think of it! I hope you like it as much as I do.

Happy reading!

>Goes off to cry as she realizes she has to wait about 2 years until the next book comes out<

The Mist by Stephen King

 in Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

After the summer storm the mist arrives.

But it’s no ordinary mist.

Things are in there…creatures that want blood.

In this terror filled short story, Stephen King writes about a bunch of people stuck in a supermarket with nowhere to go, a store with the front covered by plate-glass, and a crazy religious lady.

What is in the mist?

Where did it come from?

Who will survive?

Will anyone?

Review

Scary. This was a terrifying short story as you really got close to the characters and you really started to feel what they were feeling. I got scared and had to put it down quite a few times to take a break. Also this is not a good things to read just before you go to sleep (I learnt the hard way.)

Even though it is scary, it is still an amazing read. I absolutely loved it and I would definitely recommend it.

I cannot really say too much about it due to the fact it is so short. But I can say that the creatures are really terrifying, there is a lot of blood and gore talked about (all of which seems realistic), and there is a lot of swearing. But I think this all added to the effect of the book.

I definitely loved it but would recommend this book for people over the age of 15/16 due to the bad language and terror.

But please do check this out. You may find this book in Skeleton Crew which is a collection of his short stories. So if you cannot find this story alone, look for Skeleton Crew and it should be the first story.

Read this book, but next time, think again when you see that shadow in the mist. It may just be coming to get you.

the mist cover

wikimedia.org

Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe

 in Adult / Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Older Readers by
Book cover Lord Of Rage Jill Monroe

Lord Of Rage Jill Monroe

Lord Of Shadows Book 2

Summary

“Princess Breena had been dreaming of her warrior lover when she was ripped from her Elden castle and thrown into a strange, dangerous realm. Lost and alone, she prayed for survival and vengeance for her stolen kingdom. She found both in a woodland cottage…in a dark bear of a man.

The golden-haired beauty had eaten his food and slept in his bed when Osborn found her. Though he wanted to awaken his virgin princess to carnal pleasures, Breena wanted more—including his warrior skills. Skills the once-legendary mercenary had long buried. Now Osborn had a choice—risk his life or deny his princess her fairy-tale ending.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Honestly, I really disliked this book and I really disliked this entire series so far. I have read book 1 and book 4 so far and only have book 3 to go but so far I really don’t like the series. The writing and the story lines are horrible. It is the traditional guy and girl and girl falls for guy and does everything for him with a little bit of action. I just hate it.

And the female gives herself up so fast and I really dislike that too. It’s just the writing is so simple and everything about it is so simple and cliché. I know that the writers of these books are well-known writers, such as Nalini Singh (who I love as you know) but these stories were written for Harlequin so they were supposed to be the traditional quick reads that everyone likes.

But I’m not everyone.

Sure, if you’re looking for a quick fix and an easy read and a traditional story line, this might be the book for you, but otherwise I really dislike them. They definitely aren’t worth buying and are a one time read in my opinion.

But, other romance lovers out there may enjoy the book. It does fit the traditional romance novel bill. But of course, once again, they are adult books with adult content.

If this is your type of book, then happy reading to you because as a classical romance story it works just fine.

But if you are looking for something with more meat to it and just more to the story/series overall, then give these ones a miss.

Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Series by
Book cover Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

Psy/Changling Series
Book 2

Summary

“Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous—aching need…exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.

Changeling Vaughn D’Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar’s instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith’s sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced—and keep her from Vaughn…”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Ugh. I don’t even know how to begin. These books are just so good and I can’t stop raving about them all. I should just not bother to write anything and just tell you to get it, but, I must tell you why it’s so good.

Let’s see…what haven’t I said before?

I mean the books have so much going on and there are SO many characters. Each book in the Psy/Changling series are about different characters but you have to read them in order due to the characters overlapping in their little, well not so little, groups. Romance is an underlying thing in these books, but there is so much more going on.

As I’ve said before, the women are NOT weak in these books and don’t just submit to the guy. They fight for their beliefs, their feelings, their views, and their men. As I’ve made it clear in the past, I hate when the woman just gives up without a fight and bends to the will or their partner. In these, that never happens. They fight until their last breath, protecting those who should be protecting them.

I will say that I sometimes get a little confused with the characters. Not the main ones, but those in the Psy Net sometimes get a little confusing and I start to blend them all together. The alliances can also get a little confusing as well as you’re never really sure who is sided with who and who is two timing who.

Overall, I mean this is just fantastic. I have read the first 6 books so far (reviews are coming) and am working on reading this ENTIRE series. I do suggest using THIS list as it has all the characters and groups laid out quite clearly and it does help.

The sex can be sometimes graphic, but not in a crude way, so once again I suggest these books for 18 and older.

But overall, happy reading! They are great summer time books as you can devour them in a short period of time.

Beach read, for the win!

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

 in Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shiver and Linger comes a brand new, heartstopping novel.

Some race to win. Others race to survive.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.
Some riders live.
Others die.
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.
Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition – the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.
As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.

-From Amazon.com

Review

I did not finish this book because of one reason. Some of the violence. I really thought that the story line was amazing and it was a great fantasy novel, but it was just not one for me. It is about these water horses and how they are tamed for the ‘Scorpio Races’. I got about a quarter of the way in and I just didn’t want to read more.

If the author, Maggie Stiefvater, reads this review (as some authors have done(much to my surprise)), I do not want her, or you, to think that this was a bad book. On the contrary, it was an amazing book and had a great story line and maybe I will pick this book up later, but for me, I just did not want to read about the bloody parts of the book. There are not many parts like that, but the ones that are, are quite graphic.

I really do recommend this book if you are interested in that type of story line as it really is a good read and many people will and have enjoy/enjoyed it (obviously as it was #1 on the NY times best sellers list.)

So please do give this book a try, it is really a good read and the characters are interesting and the story line is intriguing and interesting to read as well. I just was not in the mood for this book right now. I will probably pick it up again some time in the future and have a different view on it .

Enjoy!